DON HOOTON: Steroid Use Outnumber Junkies at Needle Exchanges
I sometimes check the "Taylor Hooton Foundation" website (taylorhooton.org) The teen who killed himself because of depression, but who's father blamed his son's death on his illegal use of anabolic steroids, to which his son used without a doctors prescription, without proper research, and without any post-cycle therapy what so ever. The father, Don Hooton, has started somewhat of a crusade against anabolic steroids, and some of the shit he posts on his little blog on the website is just disturbing...so check this one out.
Wales: Steroid Users Outnumber Junkies at Needle Exchanges
Don Hooton - Monday, March 08, 2010
Is this where we are headed? A society where the use of anabolic steroids has surpassed the use of other drugs?
If you've not read any other article that I've posted in this section, please take 5 minutes and read this article in its entirety. Because, I believe this is where we in the US are headed. Why? Because as a nation, vanity and the desire to win at any cost drives our youth's behavior while at the same time we are effectively doing NOTHING to impede the growth of this growing epidemic!
Don
Figures show Wales' steroid timebomb
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wa...1466-25977485/
Mar 7 2010 by Graham Henry, Wales On Sunday
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STEROID use is so rife in Wales, users are outnumbering junkies in using needle-exchange programmes, drug experts have warned.
Needle-exchange figures reveal that the numbers of users on body-enhancing drugs using the services has rocketed to 80% of the total in some areas.
Cheap, often fake, internet steroids are flooding the market as more and more young Welsh men attempt to take a quick, easy path towards a body like Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Fake steroids have been known to include baby oil and drugs normally intended for bulking-up cattle.
They have also been known to cause a raft of side-effects including impotence, hair loss and the growth of “moobs” – man-breasts.
Mike Mallett of the Newport needle exchange – where nearly two-thirds of walk-in clients are steroid-users – warned that the trend was growing and that people now had “no difficulty” getting hold of dangerous drugs from the internet and dealers.
He said: “We’ve seen a steady year-on-year increase in the number of people using steroids.
“The numbers are creeping up and around 60% of our client-base here are steroid users. A large proportion of them are young males aged 18 or 19 who want to go on steroids before they have done any weight training, which can lead to long-term health problems.”
Mr Mallett warned that with more steroid-users sharing needles there was a “huge” risk of contracting blood-borne viruses like HIV and hepatitis.
He said: “Many users prefer to think that they are not at risk from blood-borne viruses because they aren’t ‘junkies’ – but you get hepatitis from the injection technique, not from the drug itself.
“That hasn’t sunk in with users. There have been many incidents of people sharing needles and syringes, but they say ‘we’re using steroids, not gear’, so are at serious risk.
“There’s also ‘roid rage’ which is definitely part of the problem – guys want to vent that level of aggression in the gym to work harder and longer and pump bigger and heavier weights, but it may make those that are already pre-disposed to violence more aggressive and possibly spill out in a domestic situation.
“It’s not going to turn Mother Teresa into Ivan the Terrible, but there are links between steroid abuse and domestic violence.”
Peter Hinkin, a substance misuse worker at the Bridgend-based drugs charity Ogwr DASH, said that they estimated that 80% of service users were steroid-users.
He said: “Looking at people in society, they are taking more care of themselves, more people going to gyms.
“Many that come in to our needle exchange, are those that collect needles for others and do a bulk collection. There’s no record for all these people, so even 80% might not be a true reflection.
“Younger people do feel more stigmatised and feel intimidated being seen walking through the door of a drug agency – there is a big danger that those practising steroid use don’t see themselves as drug-users.”
The claims come in a week when ex-policeman Justin Weaver was jailed for running a steroid-dealing ring from a base in Swansea.
Weaver ran the ring for bodybuilders in South Wales while working as a Metropolitan police officer in London.
He used his Swansea-based civilian police worker ex-girlfriend Amanda Griffin as a way of checking how police were monitoring his activities.
Steroid expert Professor Bruce Davies from the University of Glamorgan, has conducted research that shows that a staggering 53% of internet steroids were shown to be fake – with teenage “bigorexics”, obsessed with building a beefcake body, often having no idea what they are taking.
He said that there was “no question” that the problem had moved from athletes and bodybuilders to “sophisticated” recreational users who were willing to take cocktails of drugs to pump up their bodies.
He said: “I never cease to be amazed at the sophisticated nature of these young guys’ ‘polypharmacies’. They have to counteract the effects of different steroids.
“You have these young guys taking Tamoxifen – a breast cancer drug – to counter the effect of developing boobs from steroids and taking other female hormones to counteract sexual problems.
“The irony is that they can lose their libido – there are these manly-looking people that can’t do the business.
“For the NHS, it’s a ticking timebomb – these ‘bigorexics’ are looking to be more powerful and are never satisfied.”
‘Every man and his dog in the Valleys is on steroids’
BODYBUILDER Gary Biddiscombe 52, told Wales on Sunday that young boys were trying to emulate the Hollywood body without having to do the work.
He said: “We are living in a McDonald’s culture where young guys are not prepared to work hard and eat well to get in condition.
Most people who buy steroids are not committing a criminal act, most have a job and look at is as a dietary regime rather than drug abuse.
“It is a growing problem – the male version of the media size-zero syndrome, where guys are desperate to look buff, toned, tanned and have big muscles.
“It is just the tip of the iceberg – guys are on the steroids and their mates will get their needles, begin injecting and the whole procedure that you need to go through – leading to abscesses, cellulitis and other medical problems on top of that.”
Mr Biddiscombe – who is now part of a Newport Council committee looking at the problem of steroid use – said that it was a national problem which has an epicentre in the south.
He said: “The problem is definitely worse in the Valleys – every man and his dog is on steroids and more women as well.
“It seems to be a Valleys syndrome rather than a city one. There would have to be a very high percentage, it is far more prevalent than people realise.
“It is growing outside of the bodybuilder culture, no two ways about it. But there is no acknowledgement of that.
“In football and rugby teams there are guys with 16 or 17st of muscle weight – without taking some enhancements is that possible?
“The medical profession and the Government must acknowledge that there is a problem. There is not much of a criminal element attached to using steroids, but the cost to the health service will only increase.”
