Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Wrestler banned for 3 months for smoking 'Kronic'

Updated at 8:13 am on 1 December 2011

The Sports Tribunal has suspended wrestler, Ricky Welsford, from participating in sport for three months after finding him guilty of smoking a cigarette containing the synthetic cannabis product Kronic.

Mr Welsford underwent an in-competition drug test at the New Zealand Wrestling Championships and tested positive for 5-Hydroxpentanyl.

This is a prohibited substance under the World Anti-Doping Code Prohibited List 2011.

Mr Welsford admitted the violation saying he's smoked Kronic at a party.

After a few drinks, a friend handed around "roll your own cigarettes" which had Kronic in them, which the friend said he had bought from a dairy before the sale of the product was banned.

Everyone in the group was smoking the cigarettes and pressuring Mr Welsford to do so.

Welsford says ultimately he succumbed to peer pressure from the rest of the group and took some puffs from one of the cigarettes.

He did not realise that Kronic contained a product banned in sport.

Copyright © 2011, Radio New Zealand