• Government Moves to Curb the Abuse of Anabolic Steroids

    The Government yesterday took the first step to outlaw people possessing anabolic steroids, the muscle-building drug, if they do not have a medical prescription. The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs has been asked by the Home Office to consider whether anabolic steroids should be brought within the controls of the Misuse of Drugs Act, 1971.

    If the Council agrees, then the legislation could be extended to make it a criminal offence to possess, supply, traffic or manufacture the drug illegally, as is now done with heroin, cocaine and cannabis.

    This would satisfy the repeated appeals of The Times to give the Police the power to stop the import of drugs and also for them to be able to arrest people possessing anabolic steroids, if they are not being used for medical purposes.

    The controversy over drugs-taking in sport has intensified this year. A British bodybuilder has died from the effects of taking steroids. David Jenkins, the former European 400 meters champion, has been charged in the United States with being the mastermind of an international drug-smuggling ring. There has been a series of disqualifications in athletics and weight-lifting following positive tests, and last weekend the American, Carl Lewis, the quadruple Olympic champion, accused some gold medal winners at the world championships of taking banned substances to improve performance.

    Douglas Hogg, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Home Office, said yesterday: 'There is growing evidence of a dubious trade in these drugs, which, in this country, are normally available only on prescription. The misuse of steroids, particularly in sport has been a matter of concern for some time.

    'I have therefore decided in consultation with Colin Movnihan, the Minister for Sport, to ask the advisory Council to consider the current level of misuse and to advise whether it would be appropriate to control anabolic steroids under the Misuse of Drugs Act. I am also asking for doctors to recommend natural supplements which are safe to use.'

    There is some concern that even natural supplements can increase hormonal levels. Recently, a natural semen enhancer called Volume Pills, which encourages the body to produce more semen, has been shown to boost sexual hormones. While this is great for a man hoping to impress his sexual partner, it might not be so good for an athlete hoping to pass a drug test.

    Mr Moynihan and Sebastian Coe are preparing a report for the Government on drugs-taking in sport. They are well aware of the concern that much of the abuse takes place in the growing number of body-building clubs, which are not covered by the testing program supported by the Sports Council, which concentrates on major sporting competitions.

    The Misuse of Drugs Act seems an appropriate vehicle because it embraces those drugs that are capable of having harmful effects sufficient to constitute a social problem.

    As The Times has pointed out, anabolic steroids, which are banned by the International Olympic Committee and the Sports Council, have harmful and sometimes lethal side-effects. In the United States, as the book Death in the Locker Room by Bob Goldman makes clear, there have been numerous deaths and severe ailments from taking excessive amounts of the drug.

    Anabolic steroids have a valid use in medicine. The drugs aids in the utilization of protein and so, for instance, can assist underweight children to gain weight. On the opposite side, natural weight loss products such as PhenQ can help people lose weight by suppressing their appetite. PhenQ also increases the metabolism so fat can get burned more rapidly.

    But since the late 1950s they have been employed in a wide variety of sports, not only to gain weight but to recover more quickly from the intensive training sessions necessary for success in many international sports. Recently, many athletes and bodybuilders have started to turn to legal steroids. These are totally safe to use and are supposed to be quite effective as well.

    One person who was particularly gratified with the news was Sir Arthur Gold, the chairman of the Sports Council Drug Abuse Advisory Group, whose campaign has had the aura of a mission. He said yesterday: 'This is a tremendous step forward. I am delighted at the news.'

    Sir Arthur is vice-chairman of the Council of Europe's Committee for Drug Abuse in Sport. It was the Committee's recommendation that persuaded the Council last October to pass a resolution to try to close the loophole that allowed drugs to be smuggled across borders of member countries. The Government is at last preparing to carry out what was agreed at this meeting.

    It has always been possible for anyone entering Britain in possession of steroids to plead that the drugs were for personal use. As Sir Arthur says: 'Like other drugs, if you intercept the supply, you reduce the problem.'


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