According to a recently concluded survey by a drug charity, young men of today are increasingly turning to anabolic steroids to enhance their looks and self-confidence.

Steroids are now becoming popular among young men between the ages of 16 and 25, as per DrugScope. The popularity of steroids has extended beyond their use for improving performance and muscle mass by body builders and athletes in the past.

From Bio-Medicine.org:

The survey revealed that they were using the drug as a short cut to a muscled and toned physique.

DrugScope’s chief executive Martin Barnes said, “The rise in the number of young men misusing steroids is extremely worrying and seems to be in response to a growing obsession with the ideal body image.”

The survey was conducted on drug agencies and police forces in 20 British cities and towns.

It found that 11 areas had reported an increase in the mainstream use of steroids, which, are normally only sold by pharmacists to people with a doctor’s prescription. Besides this the survey also found an increase in “speedballing” — injecting heroin and crack cocaine simultaneously.

Harry Shapiro, editor of Druglink magazine said, “It is clearly on the increase and if this trend continues, it will be bad news for attempts to reduce the spread of injecting-related diseases and the number of drug overdoses.”

It was disclosed by DrugScope that usage of crystal or powder MDMA, two forms of Ecstasy, had become more prevalent today though the predicted crystal meth epidemic had failed to materialize.