Latest news with #anabolicsteroids
Daily Mail
06-07-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE I took steroids for almost a decade due to peer pressure. They led me down a dark path and changed my body irreversibly... But I still miss them
A powerlifting coach who took steroids for almost a decade has warned the drugs take a toll on users' bodies and mental health - but their use will never be stopped. Anabolic steroids, a type of performance-enhancing drug (PEDs) related to testosterone, have long been controversial in the fitness world. Even the mention of PEDs can be divisive, with figures like Aussie swimmer James Magnussen criticised for participating in the 'Enhanced Games', where the use of drugs was encouraged. Anabolic steroids are illegal without a medical prescription in Australia, but that hasn't stopped people increasingly using them for means other than better health. Gus Cooke, 36, trained using anabolic steroids for bodybuilding and powerlifting competitions over 10 years while living in Brisbane - but gave them up in 2023. 'When I initially started taking them, I didn't really want to, but it was a bit of peer pressure,' he told Daily Mail Australia. 'The sport kind of created this need to keep up and do what everyone else is doing, and so you are led down a dark path. 'Rather than sending you backwards, like a party drug, it's making you perform better. 'It's an addictive feeling. Winning is addictive - but then you start to realise the health concerns.' After his last competition two years ago, Mr Cooke decided it was time for a change and came off steroids before moving to Phuket, Thailand, with his wife. But that is when the difficulties really began. 'If you've been on them for a long time, you're going to have neurochemistry changes. (It) starts to impact your mental health,' he said. 'Then, it starts to get paired with muscle loss quite quickly. 'After long-term use, you've got quite a bit of suppression, meaning that your natural production (of testosterone) has slowed down.' Mr Cooke is now taking TRT, Testosterone Replacement Therapy, which is a legal, medically prescribed drug. 'My maturity and sensibility is stronger than the desire to want to go back on (them) but it doesn't mean you don't miss it,' he said. 'I do miss taking it (but) I never will again. I don't see any need.' As a coach, he now focuses on mitigating the risks of his clients who do take steroids. 'I know so much about training and more effective ways of managing performance enhancement to the degree that you can perform better if managed at much lower dosages. 'You can't stop the use. You never will stop the use. There was no point criminalising it because all you do is create an underground subculture of steroid use. 'If I demonise it, (my athletes) will go do it behind doors and, because there is little support, I need to be that support for them.' While the use of anabolic agents in Australia is illegal without a prescription, there is a trend of increasing non-medical use. The Australian National Drug Strategy Household Survey recorded that non-medical anabolic steroid use almost tripled in the 18 years between 2001 and 2019. Experts have also raised concerns about the link between social media images and the use of steroids. Research published in the American Psychological Association in 2024 highlighted the link between social media-influenced body image concerns and behaviors such as anabolic-androgenic steroid use among men. While the findings were mixed, there were some damning conclusions made. 'It was clear that appearance-related social media use is related to a more negative body image and greater odds of anabolic-androgenic steroid use in men,' it said. Mr Cooke said steroid use by social media influencers led to two issues - some people promote it as a 'magic pill', while others do not disclose that their gains are influenced by drugs, leading to followers becoming disappointed. 'With the people who are more public about it, you've got this high performer who's also, at the same time, using it to make it look "cool",' he said. 'And people see it as that magic pill.' Meanwhile, Mr Cooke warned that the second group are seeing an idolised image that is 'unrealistic'. 'You've got people who've been doing this for a really long time showing their results, and people get disheartened because they're not given the context. 'The reality is that anything worth getting in terms of a really chiselled physique isn't attainable without anabolic steroids. 'It can be done naturally, but doesn't look the same.' What is the answer? For Mr Cooke, if steroid-use is inevitable in the industry, it needs to be managed rather than banned. 'There needs to be both infrastructure to keep the market accountable and infrastructure for athletes to feel safe, to get help,' he said. 'There only needs to be basic knowledge out there to reduce so much harm. 'It's so underground no one knows what to do, and people need access to medical facilities to test if there's contaminants, to test what they're taking and then how to safely use it.' The proof of the point seems to have been made in Australian world-first research, with Griffith University running a steroid testing trial which was paired with education. Anonymous users submitted steroids for a composition analysis, including for purity. According to the results published in May this year, almost a quarter of the substances tested contained unexpected steroids. Over half were incorrectly dosed. The trial also revealed more than 80 per cent of participants would change or reduce their use of steroids after being shown the results of the research. 'Criminalisation and stigmatisation have led to these individuals turning to peers, social networks, online forums and drug coaches,' lead researcher Dr Tim Piatkowski said at the time. 'These strategies are a form of folk pharmacology or 'bro science' and can sometimes lack appropriate oversight from medical professionals.
BBC News
01-07-2025
- BBC News
'Reckless' ex-Essex PC resigned after illegal steroid use
A police officer has been dismissed from a force after it was found he was using unprescribed anabolic steroids. Ex Essex PC Joshua Brady tested positive for anabolic androgenic steroids which are a Class C drug and only available through prescription. A misconduct hearing took place on 17 June found Mr Brady had breached professional standards and concluded he would have been sacked if he had not already Constable Ben-Julian Harrington, said: "Police officers who take drugs that are not prescribed by a doctor, or are not lawful, have no place in policing." Mr Brady was also placed on the College of Policing barred Harrington added: "PC Brady was a young in-service officer with a bright future in policing who had represented police at the highest levels in sport. "But through foolish and reckless behaviour he has not only ruined his career but has put himself and the public at risk."Police officers who take drugs that are not prescribed by a doctor, or are not lawful, have no place in policing."According to the NHS, most professional sports and organisations ban anabolic steroid use and test competitors for prohibited steroids can be used as performance-enhancing drugs that increase muscle mass and decrease fat, as well as causing many undesirable effects. Follow Essex news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
ABC News
16-06-2025
- Health
- ABC News
More women are taking up bodybuilding — and illegal steroids
Jas Paterson is a natural bodybuilder and powerlifting coach who regularly appears in bodybuilding competitions in Australia and overseas. She's made the decision not to take steroids to help enhance her physique and instead follows a strict fitness regime to help build muscle. The 26-year-old is part of the burgeoning body building community in Australia that she says has "become incredibly popular, especially among women". But behind the sculpted and bronzed physiques is an industry with a dark side. Women bodybuilders are 12 times more likely to use anabolic steroid than the general female population, including recreational gym users, according to a study led by Tim Piatkowski from Griffith University. Traditionally used by young male bodybuilders to build and repair muscle quickly, its popularity among bodybuilding women is growing. The study showed a 4 per cent rate of steroid consumption among women globally, higher than the 1.4 per cent last reported in 2014. This is despite it being illegal to possess anabolic steroids without a script. According to Dr Piatkowski, there are also many more dangers, including permanent side effects, for women to consider when they choose to take steroids. Anabolic steroids are among a group of performance and image enhancing drugs known as PIEDs. Usually injected directly into muscle, women prefer to take it in tablet form. Laws around the possession and trafficking of steroids varies from state to state. Steroids are classed alongside heroin as a Schedule 1 drug in Queensland and possessing it without a script can result in up to 25 years in jail. In Victoria, jail time for the same offence is as little as one year. Anabolic steroids essentially mimic the masculinising effects of the male sex hormone, and its misuse can often mean dealing with several long-term side effects, including the risk of heart failure, stroke and liver damage. Dr Piatkowski is a harm reduction researcher at Griffith University with a special interest in steroid use. He says women's primary hormone production is estrogen and progesterone, but taking steroids can still have masculinising side effects. "For women, there are a swathe of other side effects that they do need to be concerned about — facial hair growth, hair loss, voice changes … ," he tells ABC Radio National's Life Matters. Other potential side effects from steroid use include insomnia, mood swings and depression, an irregular menstrual cycle or the absence of periods, a deepening of the voice and a reduction in breast size. So why is there an uptick in women taking steroids? Dr Piatkowski believes there are a few drivers for steroid use among female bodybuilders. "[Body] ideals used to be skinny for women, and big [and] bulky for men. Some of the new research I've been doing has been looking at the convergence of those ideals," he says. "Both men and women want to not only [look] lean — and have low body fat — but they also want a highly muscular appearance." The display of "beautiful bodies" on social media together with the rise of fitness influencers are also to blame, says Dr Piatkowski. "We like to present ourselves as these very put together, almost perfect, idealistic bodybuilders because that is what sells and that is what people are drawn to," Ms Paterson says. "One of the things that I've really learnt over my years in the bodybuilding world and just social media in general is that there's nothing true about that for me personally. "We are also human, and we are going to gain body fat … we too have bad days with body image." Dr Piatkowski says "access" to steroids is another issue. "We have an unprecedented level of access to an unregulated market. We can go onto Amazon and I can buy a bottle of testosterone right now," he says. And in an unregulated market, what you think you're buying is often not what you end up with. A series of steroid checking trials conducted in Queensland last year and earlier this year revealed the types of steroids preferred by women are commonly faked. "Out of well over 100 samples we tested, which were submitted by community — including men and women — over 25 per cent of those were a different steroid than what the person thought they were going to get," Dr Piatkowski says. "Fifty per cent were underdosed, so less steroid than intended. And about 6.9 per cent were overdosed." Women who use anabolic steroids also faced challenges in accessing reliable suppliers compared to men, increasing their vulnerability to unsafe products. Ms Paterson has chosen to compete as a natural bodybuilder in untested competitions, which means potentially going up against bodybuilders who use steroids. She has noticed an increase in awareness of anabolic steroids among the female bodybuilders and says people are talking about it more openly than they have in the past. "I definitely have seen more interest in females wanting to consider using things like steroids," she says. "But one of the positives of more people talking about it … is that there are more people giving out information on how women can go about using performance enhancing drugs in ways that would really hope to minimise the negative side effects." Dr Piatkowski believes open and honest communication, together with better safety guidelines for those who use steroids, is essential. He also highlights the gendered nature of the steroid marketplace. "Recently, there has been more steroid literacy emerging among women with leading steroid educators in this space, however, steroid literacy among this group is still developing," he says. "There are things we can do [however] that actually minimise harm because a lot of the harm that we see come from very high doses, unregulated products and structural harms like stigma …" He says steroid use should be fully regulated to ensure people are getting what they've asked for and to better monitor doses are correct. But should be off limits for anyone who is not yet fully developed. "[We should also] encourage health monitoring — taking blood pressure, doing echocardiograms, blood tests, things like that. And create a space where there's good health and social outcomes."
Times
20-05-2025
- Sport
- Times
Olympics for dopers ‘ignores link between steroids and domestic violence'
The organisers of The Enhanced Games, an alternative to the Olympics in which banned drugs will be permitted, have come under fire for failing to recognise the link between anabolic steroids and domestic violence. In Las Vegas on Wednesday the controversial organisation led by the Australian businessman and lawyer Aron D'Souza says it will finally announce a venue for its event and a roster of athletes tempted by an offer of $1million (£748,000) if they break a world record. It is understood no British athletes have so far signed up. But Trevor Pearce, the outgoing chairman of UK Anti-Doping (Ukad), has expressed his concern in an interview with The Times about the risks associated with substances athletes may choose to use in the absence of
