The AFL has granted former West Coast Eagles captain and recovering drug addict Ben Cousins permission to resume his football career.

Cousins, who has been suspended for the past 12 months for bringing the game into disrepute following his much-publicised slide into drug addiction, is now free to be picked up by any club in either the November 29 national draft or the December 16 pre-season draft.

The 2005 Brownlow Medalist is favoured to go to St Kilda with Brisbane believed to be the only other club seriously considering taking a risk on giving the 30-year-old a second chance.

Cousins' return is subject to a series of strict conditions, announced by AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou on Tuesday following the conclusion of the commission meeting in Sydney.

The champion midfielder will only be allowed to add to his distinguished 238-game career if he:

*goes to a club that has an appropriate drug and alcohol management program in place, which must be approved by the AFL Medical Officers' Association.

*subjects himself to three urine tests per week and four hair tests a year to see if he is drug free.

*co-operates fully with all AFL drug testers and not seek to delay, refuse, tamper with or fail to provide samples.

*attends any drug program as ordered to by the AFL.

If Cousins should post any positive drugs test, he will be stood down by the AFL pending the outcome of any investigation.

Demetriou said it was now up to Cousins to make the most of his second opportunity.

"It's up to Ben now," he said.

"He has to accept responsibility for his actions but he has demonstrated that he wants to play football again."

Demetriou said the league felt that 'on balance' it was the right decision to give Cousins - who has never once tested positive to drugs - a second chance.

"Ben Cousins is making a real effort to be rehabilitated," Demetriou said.

"He has been tested on several occasions in the past few months and he has tested negative."

Demetriou said the league's medical advice was that Cousins' rehabilitation would be aided by allowing him to resume his career.

"The medical advice we received says it would be helpful to him to be playing football again (but) in these situations there is nothing that is absolutely certain," he said.

"All the medical evidence that was presented was that he is making a real effort to rehabilitate himself and get back to playing football and on that basis we wish him well."

"We have acted on the best medical advice and if he can play the rest of his career without any relapse that would be a great result."

And while the AFL Players' Association welcomed the AFL's decision, it questioned why Cousins should be subject to extra drug testing, beyond the current drug code, compared to other players.

"The AFL Players' Association does hold serious concerns that the AFL
commission resolution is inconsistent with the terms of the AFL Illicit Drugs Policy," the AFLPA said in a statement following the Cousins decision.

The AFLPA said in its submission in support of Cousins that the current illicit drugs policy, which applies to all players, was sufficient to deal with Cousins' return, even though this policy failed to pick up his initial drug addiction.

While St Kilda and Brisbane are believed to be the only clubs keen on securing Cousins, that may change