José had no problem in admitting that he used the Propecia hair loss drug

The cyclist José Antonion Pecharroman is said to be extremely happy following a decision of The Court of Arbitration for Sport which rescinded his nine month ban on participating in races. José was originally banned from his sport after he tested positive for the substance finasteride during routine drug testing.

Finasteride is the active ingredient in the hair loss medication Propecia which is used by millions of men around the world to prevent the effects of male pattern baldness. Many sportsmen who used this medication were unaware that it was a banned substance and got themselves into trouble with the relevant doping authorities.

An appeal filed by José Antonion Pecharroman was considered and the original decision was overturned which allows him now to participate in races. In fact the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) has recently allowed finasteride to be used by professional sportsmen as it has no performance enhancing effects. It is likely that The Court of Arbitration for Sport took into account the fact that WADA did not consider finasteride to be a banned substance any more and that to continue to enforce José Antonion Pecharroman ban would have been churlish.

The WADA had originally banned the use of finasteride because they felt it would mask the use of performance enhancing medications such as anabolic steroids. José had no problem in admitting that he used the Propecia hair loss drug which had been prescribed to him by his doctor to treat male pattern baldness.

Despite being pleased with the decision in his favour José has suffered a considerable professional loss due to the original ruling and has decided to sue the team that sacked him when he tested positive. Most sporting teams have contracts with their players that allow them to immediately sack them for any form of illegal drug use.