Dr. Euan Lawson, the faculty chairman of the Royal College of General Practitioners, has expressed his support of changes to be made to the existing anabolic steroid laws in the United Kingdom. The government has recently accepted the recommendations of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (“ACMD”) regarding amendments to the country’s steroid laws. The personal possession of steroids for self-administration remains legal but the government plans on banning the importation of steroids via mail.
“It is encouraging that the government have accepted almost all the ACMD’s recommendations and haven’t chosen to criminalise and marginalise anabolic steroid users directly,” responded Dr. Lawson. “There is a real need for reliable, credible and consistent health information for steroid users.”
The attitudes towards steroid users in the UK is dramatically different than attitudes in the United States. The UK treats steroid use as primarily a medical problem whereas legislators and medical professionals in the United States are more likely to advocate legal solutions to steroid use rather than harm reduction measures.
“There is a problem with counterfeit and low quality steroids entering the system but a strong and effective harm reduction message will ultimately be more important than any legislation,” according to Dr. Lawson.
Unfortunately, Dr. Lawson may not have considered all of the ramifications of the new steroids laws. The pending amendments will likely have an impact contrary to the harm reduction message espoused by Dr. Lawson and other harm reduction advocates.
Up until now, steroid-using bodybuilders have been able to order human-grade pharmaceutical quality anabolic steroids over the internet and have them legally imported into the UK while lower-quality, often-contaminated steroids products manufactured by underground labs (UGLs) have been illegal.
The new steroid laws will make it ILLEGAL to order and import pharmaceutical/human grade steroids. At the same time, the amendments will make UGL steroids perfectly LEGAL.
This is a terrible law if harm reduction is the objective.
Source:
Moberley, T. (September 30, 2011). Seizure of anabolic steroids to tackle rising misuse. Retrieved from http://www.gponline.com/News/article/1095926/seizure-anabolic-steroids-tackle-rising-misuse/
