Ordering anabolic steroids over the internet should be made illegal, the Government's drugs advisory body has said.
The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) said further restrictions to make it necessary for an individual to have personal custody of the substances on importation should be imposed, "thereby making online ordering of the substances illegal".
The British Crime Survey found that 50,000 people aged 16-59 used anabolic steroids in 2009/10 and needle and syringe programmes also indicated a rise in steroid injectors, the ACMD said.
It also recommended the Government increase its efforts to ensure better availability of credible information and advice for users of anabolic steroids and put a greater focus on users who visit needle exchange schemes to help stop the spread of blood-borne viruses.
Professor Les Iversen, ACMD chairman, said: "The misuse and rising prevalence of anabolic steroids is a worrying development.
"While the health-related harms associated with these substances are not as severe as with some other drugs, misuse carries significant risks, particularly for young people whose bodies are still developing.
"More needs to be done to tackle the supply of anabolic steroids and to educate people of the potential dangers."
But the ACMD said "criminal prosecution should continue to be limited to illicit steroid dealers, suppliers, manufacturers and traffickers who profit from this trade as a Class C substance". It also recommended improved intervention and education messages aimed at users.
The ACMD report - Consideration Of The Anabolic Steroids - raised concerns over the "ease of availability through transnational internet sites trading in these products". It added that substandard and counterfeit steroids within the marketplace posed a health risk and also found there was "no recognised drug treatment provision for anabolic steroid users in the UK".
The advisory body also found that use of the drugs by adolescents was "potentially disrupting the normal pattern of growth and behavioural maturation and leading to virilisation". It added that the majority of users injected anabolic steroids and were potentially at risk of a number of serious harms including blood-borne viruses such as hepatitis B and C as a result of sharing used injecting equipment.
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