UK Home Secretary Jacqui Smith announced that twenty-four anabolic steroids are going to be banned to control abuse by youngsters who use these substances to improve their physique. This proposal was made from the Government’s official advisers on drugs that steroids are now also being abused by youngsters. According to the Home Office consultation paper, “anabolic steroids have been used by sports people in numerous well publicized cases, but there is also increasing concern over the use of them among the general public, and in particular, concerns around young people.” The paper also revealed that the steroid ban is in line with the policy of the government of preventing the misuse of illegal substances not just by athletes but also by the public, especially in the run-up to the 2010 Olympics.

To date, fifty-four anabolic steroids and five growth promoters are banned. And if the proposal will be approved, an additional 24 more steroids will be included to the list, along with two growth promoters. Anabolic steroids, taken in tablet or injected in liquid form, can be used or taken unless prescribed by a doctor hence it is not illegal to possess them. But possession to supply is illegal and has the maximum 14-year jail term or unlimited fine punishment once proven guilty. Anabolic steroids can be easily purchased via the internet as many sites from all parts of the globe offer this kind of drug.

In a British Crime Survey conducted, it revealed that 179,000 people with the age ranging from 16-59 have used anabolic steroids. However, another expert disclosed that the figure can go as high as 200,000. Early this year, Mike Lindell of the Lifeline drugs charity in Manchaster, UK, told The Times that the needle-exchange projects were reporting that there is an escalating number of men injecting steroids for the purpose of vanity. “What we have seen over the past two years is a growth in people who are not drug users in the traditional sense. They are coming in having used anabolic steroids because they wanted to look good. It is all about image,” he said.

However, people using steroids are not fully aware of the side-effects of this drug including acne, growth of breasts, shrinkage of the testicles and erection problems. Little did they know that these side effects can create devastating effects to young men. The Home Office consultation paper also warns that the misuse of steroid can cause aggression, irritability, high blood pressure and infertility. The Home Office is also looking for a way to outlaw the BZP or otherwise known as the herbal E and GBL, an industrial solvent found in nail polish remover and sold as a “legal high.” The parents of Heather Stewart, who died after taking GBL, wrote to the Home Secretary asking her to alter the law. Maryon, the mother, said that she was “delighted” of the proposal in controlling GBL. “As far as I’m concerned there is no time to lose,” she said. “I’m delighted at the announcement and feel it is a step in the right direction.”

However, a certain Dave from Cambridge, UK said that billions of money was already wasted in trying to ban anabolic steroids. He also added that anabolic steroids are not dangerous. And many thousands of informed men take steroids long term and suffer no ill effects. To conclude his statement, he said that a steroid ban will do nothing to stop their use.

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