Brazilian player Jobson banned 2 years for cocaine

Brazilian forward Jobson was banned for two years on Thursday after he failed doping tests following two league matches while addicted to cocaine.

However, the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling allows the 23-year-old player to resume his career in March 2012 because he already served six months and the case took so long to prosecute.

At his CAS hearing in June, Jobson told the three-man panel that he became desperate and used crack cocaine in 2010 when a Brazilian sports tribunal initially banned him for two years. The tribunal later cut the ban to six months.

The CAS panel upheld a World Anti-Doping Agency appeal to restore Jobson's two-year sanction.

Jobson, who publicly acknowledged his addiction, played for Botafogo when he failed the tests in November and December 2009.

''The player admits to having voluntarily used cocaine due to the fact that he suffered from cocaine-dependency syndrome,'' the CAS ruling said.

Jobson asked the court to take his poor upbringing into account, while denying he using drugs to enhance his performance.

The court's published ruling outlined Jobson's pattern of substance abuse and subsequent sessions with a psychiatrist.

''The player confirmed that he had started drinking alcohol at the age of 15 and using drugs at the age of 17, when he started to play for Brasiliense,'' the CAS ruling said.

''The player explained that no doping controls had been conducted in the Brazilian state championship in which Brasiliense played. Therefore, he consumed cocaine without the fear of being caught for having committed a doping offence.''

Jobson stopped using cocaine when he was loaned in 2009 to South Korean club Jeju United ''but had consumed vast quantities of alcohol,'' the ruling said.

Returning to Brazil, Jobson stated that ''he had consumed drugs in social events after matches and on weekends and parties but not in the morning and not before the matches.''

Jobson said he became desperate and used crack after the initial two-year ban was imposed in January 2010.

''The player referred to this period as the 'worst period of his life','' CAS said.