Addiction to steroid drugs in Ireland is increasing, though those who take them don’t identify themselves as drug users and are often in employment, the chief executive of Merchants Quay Ireland, Tony Geoghegan, said yesterday.
Speaking at the launch of a report profiling more than 300 drug users who used services at the centre in Dublin, Mr Geoghegan said 7 per cent of people attending needle exchange were using steroids, used to enhance performance and image.
For the majority, steroids were the only drugs they were using and all users were men.
Steroid use was on the increase, Mr Geoghegan said, but had not been recognised by the national drug strategy. Because it is a “furtive area”, steroid users were not inclined to go to their GP, so needle-exchange services were “ideal” to engage with them. “A lot of steroid users don’t identify themselves as drug users . . . a lot of steroid users would still be in employment and working, so we need to have services that are at the weekend and in the evening if we are going to capture this client group,” he said.
Source: Fiona Gartland, Irish Times, 29/05/13
Safer Student Nights
eBulletin
Poll
