Steroids Thailand

With its lax regulations and close proximity to international criminal networks, Thailand is a key player in the global steroids trade. Its burgeoning pharmaceutical industry and its centralized location make it an ideal manufacturing hub for illicit steroids. Combined with its porous borders, this makes Thailand a major transit point for illegal steroid distribution to countries worldwide.

Amateur bodybuilders from Australia and further afield are increasingly taking steroid holidays in Thailand to bulk up while avoiding prosecution at home. One such Australian, Jarrad Fisher, told media last year that he used a combination of drugs to grow from 70kg to a fully fledged bodybuilder on his steroid holiday in Pattaya. But the drug-and-gym regimen can have deadly consequences. In 2011 Australian amateur bodybuilder Aziz Shavershian died of heart failure while using steroids in a sauna in Thailand, a few weeks after his brother was arrested for smuggling the drugs into his country.

Steroids are synthetic hormones that mimic the male sex hormone testosterone and can increase muscle mass and promote fat loss. But they have many dangerous side effects, including shrinkage of the testes in men and the development of breast tissue in girls. They also can cause high blood pressure and cholesterol levels, and damage the liver and heart.

But the drugs are available in Thailand for a fraction of what they would cost in Australia, and pharmacies in Phuket, such as those on Soi 7, advertise their sale of the popular anabolic steroid methandienon. It is a synthetic form of the hormone, and is often prescribed for diabetics and sold as a weight-loss supplement in conjunction with other medicines. Steroids Thailand