editorial comment actually, paraphernalia fully endorses this proposal. The sudden ban of a large number professional athletes might lead to very rapid changes in law. Du pain et des jeux, as the Romans used to say....

Soccer players and other sportsmen could soon face mandatory two-year bans if caught using recreational drugs, the head of the World Anti-Doping Agency said on Monday.

Dick Pound said WADA was prepared to look into amending its anti-doping code to include recreational drugs whether in or out of competition.

Pound's comments came less than two weeks after Romanian striker Arian Mutu was banned for seven months by the English FA for taking a banned substance.

"Under the code, the use of cocaine - which was the Mutu substance -- is prohibited in competition," Pound said on Monday from WADA's headquarters in Montreal.

"As his case was not in competition, we had no jurisdiction at all, although it (cocaine use) may be a code of conduct issue for a particular sport.

"We think it is a very bad substance to be using at all and not the sort of image our sports or our clubs would like to encourage."

While cocaine is banned as a stimulant during competition, WADA do not require sports to test for it out of competition.

As such, there is no formal agreement to impose the maximum two-year suspension for a positive test and Pound said WADA were set to examine tweaking their code to close this loophole.

"I note that British Sports Minister Richard Caborn is considering asking us to investigate whether or not things like cocaine should be added to the list of banned substances.

"When that comes up, we will certainly look at that."

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