The UK government thinks banning steroids will stop people taking them
It's estimated that around 50,000 people in the UK have used anabolic steroids in the past year, with more than half of them in the 16 to 24-year age group.
According to a report by the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs they are no longer just being used by bodybuilders. The bulk of users are now young men and teens who want to build muscle quickly.
I wonder just how many young men realise the true extent of the risks they're taking, simply to improve their body image.
Anabolic steroids - which are totally different from the anti-inflammatory steroids used to treat rheumatoid arthritis - are extremely powerful drugs originally used in low doses by doctors to treat patients with muscle-wasting conditions.
They mimic the effect of the hormone testosterone, helping users to train harder for longer and speeding up muscle development.
But when taken without medical supervision, they can have unpleasant and potentially dangerous effects. These range from acne, aggression, mood swings, paranoia, depression and infertility to liver damage, liver cancer, increased risk of heart attack and heart failure.
If anabolic steroids were made legal but only under a doctor's supervision it would drastically minimize the risk of side affects such as "acne, aggression, mood swings, paranoia, depression, liver damage, liver cancer, heart attack and heart failure" which are supposed to be the side affects of anabolic steroid use although it seems that not much testing has been done.
One side effect often not talked about is the effect on sex drive. Initially it increases libido but this eventually has the opposite effect.
Where is the proof of this? if proper medication is taken, which most bodybuilders know about then loss of libido is not a concern.
If you take it for long enough, it will also shrink testicles and affect sperm production and quality. This can cause temporary infertility, which could be longer-lasting in teens and younger men. Two more irreversible effects include stunted growth in teenage boys and man boobs in any age group.
As I mentioned above, if proper medication is taken then gynocomastia (man boobs) and infertility is not of concern and as for stunted growth in teenagers, if anabolic steroids were made legal but only to persons over the age of 21 and strictly supervised then this would not be a problem.
Then there are the dangers of drugs bought over the internet - out-of-date, impure contents, wrong dosage instructions, no warnings about likely complications and the danger of infection or injury when there's no medical supervision.
If anabolic steroids were made legal then there would be NO problem with "out of date, impure contents, wrong dosage instructions and unknown side effects" not to mention the taxable income made by making them legal.
I'm not under the illusion that banning imports of these drugs will solve the problem overnight, but I am in favour of anything that will deter people from buying or selling these dangerous drugs.
Anabolic steroids are illegal in certain countries such as Australia and the USA but it has not done anything to stop the use of such drugs, in fact just the opposite and also raised the price of steroids.
Meanwhile, we need to make young men more aware of the true risks. Good places to do this are gyms though, ironically, this is where some of them are illicitly supplied.
If anabolic steroids were made LEGAL to people over 21 under a doctor's strict supervision then people would know the right dosages and risks involved.
There should also be more help and advice available for men who are worried about the effects. And above all, as a society, we need to ditch our looks obsession.
In this day and age do you really think people are going to stop being obsessed with their looks and if steroids were made LEGAL then all the right advice and help would be readily available.
This is just another body image-related problem that is threatening health.
What, just like plastic surgery, tattoo's and body piercing's which can all have problems if not done the right way but are still legal, should it not be upto the individual what they do with their body?
The UK government thinks banning steroids will stop people taking them
By: paul williams
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