Users are buying substances online through websites and on social media. Photo: 123rf
Cocaine, MDMA or weed all might be the types of drugs that spring to mind when people think about people getting their substances checked.
But steroids and other performance or image enhancing drugs - known as PIEDs - are becoming more common in drug checking clinics.
KnowYourStuff and the New Zealand Needle Exchange programme say the amount of people bringing in steroids and similar drugs has jumped in the past two years.
Users are buying substances online through websites and on social media and Netsafe said it's a growing problem and is now on their radar.
Casey Spearin from drug checking service KnowYourStuff said more and more people are bringing in performance and image enhancing drugs to be tested.
"It's still not a huge quantity compared to the other substances that we've tested, but we've been seeing more and more of these. I would assume that's partially due to the availability to get these substances online, such as through the dark web," Spearin said.
She said they're mostly seeing anabolic steroids and substances such as SARMS (Selective androgen receptor modulators), which have been mostly bought online or off social media.
But people are concerned the drugs may not actually be what they ordered.
"We've certainly been fielding a lot of emails over the last year with people saying, hey, can I bring my steroids, can I bring my SARMS in for testing?" She said.
"I think there's an element [that] people are more aware that it is possible to test these types of substances and that it's possible that they are being adulterated or substituted for different things when they're purchased."
She said pressures from social media around body image could be influencing people to try out these kinds of drugs.
"It's not hard to imagine the pressures around image that come with social media these days will be causing people to try out these substances," Spearin said.
"We know social media is a place where people share a lot of information about these drugs. We know people purchase a lot of [these] drugs on social media as well."
Jason George, the national harm reduction lead for the Drug Injecting Services Canterbury, said they've also seen an increase in the amount of performance enhancing drugs coming through. He said the use of steroids and SARMS has been steadily on the rise.
"It fits in the 5th most injected drugs, after methamphetamine, methadone, ritalin, methylphenidate and morphine."
He said they'd like to see more funding for harm reduction strategies such as a specific clinic for people taking performance enhancing drugs - based on an NHS clinic set up in Edinburgh.
"What we'd really like to be able to offer is a dedicated performance and enhancing drug clinic because when people take these drugs, they should really be monitoring their blood work, to understand how the drugs are affecting their bodies."
Matt Walley, a nutritionist and personal trainer from Christchurch, said there is misinformation around the use of PIED's on social media.
"They'll sort of be talking and [they'll say] there's kind of like an ideal look I want to go for can I show you on my phone? And I'm thinking, OK, is it going to be Hugh Jackman or Dwayne Johnson, do you want to be huge, or do you want to be shredded?" Walley said.
"You just know it's not realistic. Like they're looking at these guys who are as enhanced as hell and you just know they're never going to get there."
Chief Safety Officer at Netsafe Sean Lyons said the marketing of the use performance and enhancing drugs by influencers online is on their radar.
"Aside from the kind of impact emotionally on young people, I think anybody who is marketing, or their marketing is reaching young people, people purchasing goods that are probably controlled substances to some degree in within the country, it's something that we're certainly aware of and would have some concern over."
He said although some websites selling PIED's may appear to be New Zealand based, just because they end with co.nz doesn't mean they're based in the country.
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