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YOU’VE heard the steroid horror stories. The bloody bar fights blamed on roid rage, the exploding biceps, the withering testicles and the sudden strokes taking young lives.
But experts say there is a major problem with this popular narrative. It is not the reality for the rapidly growing group of characters at its heart: the gym junkies taking extreme measures to boost their body image by shooting drugs into their muscles.
There are fears that this disconnect is in fact alienating the majority of the steroid-taking community.
And rather than slowing the number of teenagers and young men resorting to performance and image-enhancing drugs (PIEDs) in the quest for a bulked up summer body, the take-up figures are swelling.
A surge in prevalence of PIEDs is reported in the latest Australian Needle and Syringe Program Survey, released in June.
Between 1995 and 2010, the proportion of respondents nationally who reported last injecting PIEDs, compared to other drugs, had been stable at 2-3 per cent. But in the last few years, this figure has seen a sudden spurt, reaching 7 per cent in 2014.
PIEDs are also the fastest-growing substances among new initiates to needle exchange services, with 38 per cent reporting last injecting steroids in 2014 after a spike in 2012 at nearly 50 per cent.
This year’s Australian Crime Commission Illicit Drug Data report also revealed steroid arrests hit record numbers in 2013-14, jumping by 41 per cent to 936, with users accounting for about four in five of those nabbed. Outlaw motorcycle gangs are also said to be cashing in on the drug’s uptake.
The rhetoric around anabolic steroids and growth hormones is only toughening. Across the country, their use is illegal unless prescribed by a doctor for certain rare medical conditions. In Queensland and in NSW, steroids have been classed as schedule one illicit drugs with jail terms of up to 25 years and hefty fines for possession. Late-night drug and alcohol-fuelled violence have been cited as the primary reason for the crackdown.
But for a group who do not see themselves as criminals, drug-users or addicts, and who largely live by healthy mantras of regular exercise, clean diets and little alcohol, it is being argued that vilification is unlikely to fix many underlying problems.
Many of the known short-term side-effects from steroid use are said to be reversible or manageable, while the long-term complications are under-researched. And at the heart of the issue is an unhealthy society-wide obsession with the body beautiful.
‘IT’S HARD TO IMAGINE TRAINING WITHOUT IT’
News Corp Australia spoke with several Australian men currently using illegal steroids and peptide hormones, and any names have been changed to protect their identities.
All said that public perceptions of their community as vain, violent thugs were incorrect and they baulked at the term ‘roid rage’.
While they said there lacked quality control on PIEDs, most took precautions to ensure their use was as safe as possible by monitoring blood pressure and getting regular blood tests to check on their liver, kidneys and hormone levels.
Many also voiced alarm at the increasing number of teenagers joining the taboo trend with a reckless tendency to shoot first, think later.
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But experts say there is a major problem with this popular narrative. It is not the reality for the rapidly growing group of characters at its heart: the gym junkies taking extreme measures to boost their body image by shooting drugs into their muscles.
There are fears that this disconnect is in fact alienating the majority of the steroid-taking community.
And rather than slowing the number of teenagers and young men resorting to performance and image-enhancing drugs (PIEDs) in the quest for a bulked up summer body, the take-up figures are swelling.
A surge in prevalence of PIEDs is reported in the latest Australian Needle and Syringe Program Survey, released in June.
Between 1995 and 2010, the proportion of respondents nationally who reported last injecting PIEDs, compared to other drugs, had been stable at 2-3 per cent. But in the last few years, this figure has seen a sudden spurt, reaching 7 per cent in 2014.
PIEDs are also the fastest-growing substances among new initiates to needle exchange services, with 38 per cent reporting last injecting steroids in 2014 after a spike in 2012 at nearly 50 per cent.
This year’s Australian Crime Commission Illicit Drug Data report also revealed steroid arrests hit record numbers in 2013-14, jumping by 41 per cent to 936, with users accounting for about four in five of those nabbed. Outlaw motorcycle gangs are also said to be cashing in on the drug’s uptake.
The rhetoric around anabolic steroids and growth hormones is only toughening. Across the country, their use is illegal unless prescribed by a doctor for certain rare medical conditions. In Queensland and in NSW, steroids have been classed as schedule one illicit drugs with jail terms of up to 25 years and hefty fines for possession. Late-night drug and alcohol-fuelled violence have been cited as the primary reason for the crackdown.
But for a group who do not see themselves as criminals, drug-users or addicts, and who largely live by healthy mantras of regular exercise, clean diets and little alcohol, it is being argued that vilification is unlikely to fix many underlying problems.
Many of the known short-term side-effects from steroid use are said to be reversible or manageable, while the long-term complications are under-researched. And at the heart of the issue is an unhealthy society-wide obsession with the body beautiful.
‘IT’S HARD TO IMAGINE TRAINING WITHOUT IT’
News Corp Australia spoke with several Australian men currently using illegal steroids and peptide hormones, and any names have been changed to protect their identities.
All said that public perceptions of their community as vain, violent thugs were incorrect and they baulked at the term ‘roid rage’.
While they said there lacked quality control on PIEDs, most took precautions to ensure their use was as safe as possible by monitoring blood pressure and getting regular blood tests to check on their liver, kidneys and hormone levels.
Many also voiced alarm at the increasing number of teenagers joining the taboo trend with a reckless tendency to shoot first, think later.
Full Story: No Cookies | The Advertiser