MATT STEVENS, the Bath and England rugby union player, has failed a drugs test and been suspended from all competitions.

He could face a two-year ban from all competitions which would effectively end his career as an international player as he would be nearly 30 when that ban expired.

Stevens has bravely and rather movingly admitted his drug problem in a TV interview. He stressed that the substance he was taking was not performance-enhancing but was a social drug.

Worse, that he has a significant habit which, he said, had “basically ruined my life”.

I suppose that Matt Stevens was in fact taking performance de-enhancing drugs and whatever effect they were having on him was not one that gave him an advantage over his opponents on the rugby field. Actually, it was quite the opposite.

When players, or any athlete, take drugs to run faster or further, or lift heavier weights or jump higher or longer then the issue is relatively easy to deal with. They have cheated.

When they take drugs because of a personal problem, and those drugs have no impact on their athletic performance, other than to reduce it, I am less confident that the current punishment fits the crime.

Wouldn’t it be better to get Matt Stevens onto a rehab programme, and to use him in an anti-drugs campaign aimed mainly at other sportsmen and young people in general, warning them about a habit which had ruined his life and could ruin theirs if they don’t stop?