‘Bali over the Counter’: Exploring the Overseas Use and Acquisition of Anabolic-androgenic Steroids

ABSTRACT

In the bodybuilding and fitness communities, anecdotal evidence suggests that some take ‘steroid holidays’, traveling to and living in foreign countries so as to have greater access to performance and image enhancing drugs (PIEDs). This study aimed to explore this phenomenon. Discussions in bodybuilding, fitness, and PIED forums formed the basis of this study. Several websites were identified and keyword searches were used to identify potential ‘threads’, which were downloaded and thematically analyzed. Twenty-two threads consisting of 254 posts from 188 individual forum members were included. Two themes were identified: (1) Product purchasing and (2) Logistics. In the first theme, the purchase of the products for individual use was a key feature, with their motivations centered on perceptions of legality, purity, and risk. In the second theme, discussions focused those members who sought to use the PIEDs they sourced in a foreign country within that country versus using foreign-sourced PIEDs in Australia. The perception that steroids may be cheaper, more readily accessible, or of better quality in countries in close proximity to Australia may lead some to travel to low- or middle-income countries to use or access PIEDs which could lead to legal and health risks.

Acknowledgments

A version of this manuscript was presented at the 2018 Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and Other Drugs (APSAD) conference held in Auckland, New Zealand.

Declaration of interest statement

This manuscript has not been submitted elsewhere nor is it under review elsewhere.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Matthew Dunn

Matthew Dunn is a Senior Lecturer in Public Health in the School of Health and Social Development at Deakin University. He sits on the Executive Board of the Human Enhancement Drug Network, and is the Research Convenor of The Loop Australia, which seeks to develop, establish, and deliver drug checking services in Australia. He is an internationally recognized expert in the field of non-medical performance and image enhancing drug use.

Kyle J. D. Mulrooney

Kyle J. D. Mulrooney is a Lecturer in Criminology at the University of New England where he also directs the Centre for Rural Criminology. Kyle serves as the Vice President of the International Society for the Study of Rural Crime and on the Executive Board of the Human Enhancement Drug Network. Kyle’s primary field of research is the Sociology of punishment in which he has examined issues ranging from the nexus between penal populism and political culture to the areas of (enhancement) drug policy and rural crime. His current research centers on rural criminology which explores how aspects of cultural geography and locational context impact upon the types, incidences and responses to crime and access to related services.

Dean Biddau

Dean Biddau is a Masters candidate at Swinburne University of Technology and holds a Bachelor of Biomedical Science from Deakin University.

Fiona H. McKay

Fiona H. McKay is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Health and Social Development at Deakin University. Dr McKay is a qualitative researcher who works with human rights and vulnerable populations. She has several years’ experience exploring inequities and inequities experienced by groups whose lives are impacted by social and institutional policies and negative community perceptions.

Richard Henshaw

Richard Henshaw is a Health Promotion Officer in Queensland Health. He holds a Master of Public Health. He has an interest in the content and purity of performance and image enhancing drugs.