Steroid abuse rife among teenagers, By: Anne Arnold
09/07/06
YOUNG people of 16 are injecting anabolic steroids as bodybuilding drugs look set to overtake the use of heroin among North West men.
Needle exchange points in Cheshire and Merseyside reported more new cases of anabolic steroid abuse than heroin last year, due in part to the increasing pressure on men to have the perfect body.
The UK’s leading expert on steroid abuse says the current figures are just “the tip of the iceberg” and even short-term abuse could have serious health implications for users and the NHS.
Personal trainers say teenagers are buying steroids from backstreet gyms and from the Internet, while drugs workers in Wirral say young men are injecting steroids developed solely for animal use.
Baldness
Once injected, steroids can cause acne, baldness, decreased sperm levels and the development of breast tissue, but the real dangers of long-term use lie later in life.
Recent research in the US suggested the steroids could cause permanent changes in teenagers’ brains, while long-term users can suffer from mood swings, hallucinations and paranoia, an increased risk of heart disease, stroke and some forms of cancer.
There is also an increased risk of liver damage and high blood pressure.
According to the latest figures from North West Public Health Observatory, 924 new anabolic steroid abusers presented themselves to needle exchanges in Cheshire and Merseyside in 2004. That brought the total to 1,838, compared with 847 injectors of all other drugs, including opiates and stimulants.
Figures for 2005 have not yet been published but experts say the trend is continuing.
Tip of the iceberg
Jim McVeigh, from the Centre for Public Health at Liverpool John Moores University, said: “An increased number of steroid abusers are presenting themselves to needle exchanges, and it could be the tip of the iceberg.
“It is an issue which seems to be growing, and no-one knows the long-term impact because the problem has only been around for 15 to 20 years. There is an emerging picture of increases in steroid use among young people. Previously, we have mainly seen people in their late twenties but looks like it is now changing.”
The Centre for Public Health at John Moores is the only unit in the UK to monitor every needle exchange transaction in a specific area, but the figures are thought to be similar across the region.
The last survey of steroid users across the North West took place in 1996, with experts interviewing 386 abusers. One third of users start abusing steroids in their teens, with the majority being aged between 25 and 35.
Competitive sport
Almost all drug abusers were men and only two per cent of those interviewed were engaged in competitive sport. So-called “life-style” gyms with aerobic equipment had a lower number of steroid users, while traditional weight-lifting gyms had more users.
In the past three years there has been a 69 per cent increase in the number of people injecting steroids in Wirral, many who fall into the 17 to 22-year-old age group.
Experts at Birkenhead’s Harm Reduction Centre said the majority of teenagers were buying steroids developed for animal use from the internet.
Legitimately produced
McVeigh, reader in Substance Use Epidemiology, added: “The majority of men are on steroids which are not legitimately produced.
“Some are veterinary products or produced illicitly in the UK or overseas, which means there are issues over sterility and the active ingredients in the products.
“There has only ever been one national study as steroids are not seen as a priority of the national drugs strategy because it is not associated with acquisitive crime but there are huge social, physical and psychological impacts.”
Boys use cut-price websites for a quick fix
PERSONAL trainer Colin Southern has seen a huge rise in the number of boys buying steroids from cut-price websites in their quest for physical perfection.
Southern, 36, now refuses to train men at his one-to-one studios in Skelmersdale, West Lancashire, if they admit to taking the controlled drug.
“For the younger generation of lads, those who are 16 and 17, taking steroids is an easy short-cut to looking good like their role models, the wrestlers on TV,” said Southern. “The WWF Wrestling champion The Rock is a prime example, but he’s seven foot tall and 20 stone. They want to look like him straight away.”
Southern said many bouncers in Wigan and Liverpool use steroids, with the drugs’ character-changing attributes prompting cases of so-called ‘roid rage.
“The drugs are easily available on the web and in America; a lot of blokes go over there and simply fill their suitcases with the stuff. It’s also available in a lot of the meathead gyms. It’s to do with society these days; people are lazy and they want instant results.”
