Excess deaths
A 2024 study published in JAMA tracked 1,189 Danish anabolic steroid users over 11 years and found they were nearly three times more likely to die than non-users. Excess deaths came from cardiovascular disease, violent crime and suicide.
The UK does not track this. The ONS does not report steroid-related deaths in its mortality statistics. There is no way to know how many men in the UK are dying from consequences of steroid use.
Imprisonment
A separate Danish study published in 2019 tracked 545 steroid users over 11 years and found they were nine times more likely to be imprisoned than non-users. Nearly one in five of the 545 users were imprisoned for violent crimes.
The aggression and impulsivity associated with steroid use, particularly compounds like trenbolone and high-dose testosterone, are well-documented in clinical literature. Combined with the criminal networks involved in supply, the link between steroid use and criminal behaviour is clear.
The supply chain
Anabolic steroids are Class C under the Misuse of Drugs Act, but their Schedule 4 classification means possession for personal use is legal while supply remains a criminal offence. This has created a thriving black market.
How it works
Users find suppliers through social media comments, influencer promotions, or by searching “buy test” or “buy tren” on any major platform. From there, they are pushed to Discord or Telegram channels where suppliers post menus of 30+ compounds, HGH, insulin, SARMs and experimental peptides. Payment is through cryptocurrency, PayPal or bank transfer to fake business names. Products are delivered through postal and courier services.
No quality control
Products are routinely manufactured in unclean environments by unlicensed individuals. In one Vice documentary, a producer disclosed that cigarette ash would fall into the injectable oil during production. Roughly 1 in 4 underground lab samples don't contain what the label states.
Private chat rooms as a pipeline
The same private chat rooms on Telegram, Discord and WhatsApp used to buy and sell steroids also act as a pipeline to wider criminal activity. What begins as a group for sourcing compounds quickly normalises other illegal behaviour. Users share content involving bladed articles, firearms, fraud, and violence.
In our investigation, we found steroid community chat rooms where members openly discussed and displayed machetes and other bladed weapons. In one instance, a user posted a photograph of a machete alongside the message: “still got the stains from the last c**t on it”. This was met with laughing emojis, not concern.
These are not fringe corners of the internet. They are group chats with hundreds or thousands of members, accessible to anyone who follows the right Instagram page or scans a QR code at a gym. Young men who enter these spaces looking for advice on their first cycle are immediately exposed to content that glorifies violence, intimidation and organised crime.
Screenshots from private steroid community chat rooms obtained during our investigation. Images have been included to evidence the crossover between steroid supply networks and violent criminal behaviour.
Controlled substances
These same chat rooms also operate as open marketplaces for a wide range of controlled substances far beyond anabolic steroids. Our investigation found suppliers openly advertising prescription painkillers, benzodiazepines such as diazepam, THC edibles, psilocybin edibles, and other Class A, B, and C drugs alongside steroid menus. A user who joins a group to buy testosterone is one scroll away from purchasing opioids, sedatives, or psychedelics.
The normalisation is the danger. When controlled substances are presented in the same casual, menu-style format as protein powder or creatine, the psychological barrier to trying them disappears. For young people already in the chat room, the progression from steroids to recreational drugs to prescription medication abuse becomes frictionless.
Controlled substances advertised alongside steroids in private chat rooms. THC edibles, prescription diazepam, and psilocybin edibles obtained during our investigation.
This is what the pipeline looks like. A teenager searches for steroids on social media, joins a Telegram group, and within days is exposed to content normalising weapons, violence, controlled substances and organised crime. The platform is the pipeline. The steroid market is the entry point.
The UK data void
We are making policy in the dark. Without data, there is no way to understand the scale of steroid-related crime and death in the UK, and no way to design an effective response.