CPL Soccer Athlete Suspended for the Presence of Cannabis

The Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES) announced today that Osaze De Rosario, a Canadian Premier League (CPL) soccer athlete affiliated with the York United Football Club, received a one-month sanction for an anti-doping rule violation. The athlete’s urine sample, collected during an in-competition sample collection session on October 1, 2022, revealed the presence of cannabis, a prohibited cannabinoid. The CCES is satisfied in this case, that cannabis was inadvertently ingested out-of-competition and unrelated to sport.

The presence of cannabis, classified as both a “specified substance” and a “substance of abuse” on the 2022 World Anti-Doping Agency Prohibited List, is considered an adverse analytical finding when the urinary concentration exceeds 150 ng/mL. The CCES assessed the relevant provisions of the Canadian Anti-Doping Program (CADP) and proposed a one-month period of ineligibility for this violation.

In response to the CCES’s proposition, the athlete signed an Agreement on the Consequences thereby waiving their right to a hearing and accepting the proposed sanction and all other consequences. The sanction terminates September 3, 2023.

During the sanction period, the athlete is ineligible to participate in any capacity with any sport signatory to the CADP, including training with teammates.

In compliance with rule 8.4 of the CADP, the CCES’s file outcome summary can be found in the Canadian Sport Sanction Registry.