Tackling steroid abuse: Campaign needs more muscle

Let's start with the good news about a public health risk that’s serious but which rarely features in media reporting: the number of anabolic steroids seized in Ireland during the first eight months of this year was up by 400% on the figure for the same period in 2016.

Let's start with the good news about a public health risk that’s serious but which rarely features in media reporting: the number of anabolic steroids seized in Ireland during the first eight months of this year was up by 400% on the figure for the same period in 2016.

Consequently, more than 443,000 units of drugs — most of them manufactured illicitly — that can wreck grotesquely and sometimes irreversibly the minds and bodies of men and women are now off the market and out of the reach, thanks to a combined and successful offensive by the Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA), the gardai and the Revenue’s customs service on illicit supplies.