5 footballers who were punished for smoking marijuana

#1 Wilder Medina

Medina has tested positive for drug use as many as four times in his career

Drugs, gangs and violence provided the backdrop to Wilder Medina’s adolescence, and drug problems would plague a career that perhaps should have delivered more for a striker whose eye for goal always guaranteed him suitors despite his off-field issues.

Medina was just 18 when he first tested positive for marijuana during his time at Colombian second division side Rionegro. In 2011, 12 years later, he was banned for three months after a positive test at Deportes Tolima. He had barely returned to action when another positive test led to a one-year ban and a $1750-fine from the Colombian league.

Then, in September 2012, with that ban coming to an end, he was sacked by Deportes Tolima after testing positive for cocaine and marijuana use during an internal test at the club.

Luckily for Medina, Santa Fe and their president Cesar Pastrana were willing to take a chance on him. They provided him with the support he needed and were rewarded with over 30 league goals in two spells between 2013 and 2014.

He has had no further positive tests.