Rochford and Southend East Conservative MP James Duddridge yesterday requested answers on the government’s strategy to combat anabolic steroid abuse.
Addressing the Secretary for Health Alan Johnson, Duddridge wrote to ask: “What recent steps his Department has taken to inform the public of the health risks of anabolic steroids; how much has been spent to that end in the last 12 months.”
Minister of State for Public Health Dawn Primarolo gave a reply, outlining the government’s general anti-drugs campaign: “The FRANK campaign, jointly funded by the Department and the Home Office, has a website and helpline advisers to provide information on the risks associated with drug misuse,” She wrote.
“FRANK makes it clear that the misuse of steroids is dangerous and can lead to some potentially fatal medical problems.
“The harmful short and long-term effects of anabolic steroid use are also described in the Department’s publication ‘Dangerousness of Drugs’ (2003).”
Primarolo did not reveal figures for the government’s spending on tackling steroid abuse specifically, stating: “It is not possible to provide spending figures on the cost of providing information on anabolic steroids specifically, because FRANK provides information on a wide range of drugs.”
Anabolic steroids were recently reclassified as class C drugs, making it illegal to possess, produce, import or export them with the intent to supply.
It is still legal to possess anabolic steroids for personal use.
There have been a number of incidences of steroid abuse nationwide, particularly by teenaged boys, in the past month.
Marine cadet Matthew Dear died on 19th April after a week in intensive care at Southend University Hospital.
Allegedly, 17 year old Dear died after taking anabolic steroids which he hoped would make him fitter for his chosen career in the military.
Since 2003, misuse of anabolic steroids has risen by more than 50% in England, with 2,500 cases treated in hospitals in 2008.
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[...] Mr Duddridge requested information on what the government had been doing to counter steroid abuse, and how much had been spent on this endeavour; you can read about this here. [...]