A new health clinic created specifically for steroid users recently opened in Inverness (Scotland). The clinic was opened in response to the increasing number of steroid users visiting the needle exchange programs in the region. The United Kingdom has a different approach to anabolic steroid abuse than the United States. The UK focuses on harm reduction with the medicalization of steroid abuse whereas the US tends to criminalize the personal use of anabolic steroids.
The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) in the UK has repeatedly refused to recommend the criminalization of steroids for personal use even under increasing pressure from anti-doping groups with the approaching 2012 London Olympics.
Robert Dawson, a GP in Tyne and Wear, who has run a clinic for anabolic steroid users for 16 years, said: “It is right that the advisory council has not bowed to pressure to criminalise users which would drive the problem underground. Instead, it has said people misguided enough to use the drugs should not be prosecuted but guided to medical care, where they can be advised why they don’t need them and informed about the potential harms.”
The new Inverness steroid clinic is the second clinic of its type available to anabolic steroid users in Scotland. There are other steroid clinics in England including one in Tyne and Wear that has been operating for 16 years that has provided assistance to over 1000 steroid users.
Funding for steroid clinics is sometimes a problem. A steroid clinic called “Smart Muscle” in London with 270 clients closed down after failing to obtain continued funding. A spokesperson said steroid clinics are not a priority for funding since “steroid users are not seen as problematic because they don’t commit crimes”.
About Millard Baker