Kurt Skårberg
Örebro Studies in Medicine 28 (2009)
This dissertation is based on interviews with 36 users of anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS) seeking help at an addiction centre. A comparison group of 277 gym clients wereasked to answer a questionnaire. The dissertation consists of four studies.
Histories of a troubled childhood as well as current social disadvantage were both more frequent among the AAS users. Users also reported poor relationships with their parents and almost half of them had experienced physical or mental abuse. The AAS
user’s experiences from school were mostly negative, and included concentration problems, boredom and learning difficulties. Their current circumstances included abuse of other drugs, battering of spouses and other crimes such as assault, illegal possession of
weapons and theft.
There was significant variation in the development of drug use in relation to socialbackground, onset of drug use, relationship to AAS use and experience of AAS effects.
All patients had initially experienced positive effects from AAS but, over time, thenegative experiences had outweighed the positive effects. All patients were dedicated to excess training and took AAS in combination with gym training, indicating that the use
of these drugs is closely related to this form of training.
The results indicated that a history of polysubstance use among the patients was frequent. Over half were using drugs of abuse and also taking various other pharmaceuticals. Almost half of the patients also used human growth hormones. Moreover, almost half of the interviewed persons were drinking alcohol to a hazardous or harmful extent. Themost common reason given for using AAS and other hormones was to increase muscle mass and strength, but some participants also used insulin as a mean of losing fat.
Cannabis was used to improve sleep, heroin to decrease pain and amphetamine to increase endurance and burn fat. Our data suggest that most of the current AAS users who have been admitted to a treatment programme are multiple drug users with
polysubstance dependence. The criminal activity level increased significantly for the majority of the participants after they began using drugs. This was particularly obvious in the two subgroups who
started their involvement with drugs by using AAS. Crimes of violence and weapon offences showed the greatest increases in incidence after drug use was initiated. The study also showed a significant decrease in criminality after treatment, particularly among participants who started their drug use with AAS. The results suggest that there is an association between the use of AAS and criminality, in particular with respect to crimes
of violence and weapon offences, and that this criminality is enhanced when AAS are combined with other drugs of abuse.
This dissertation shows that AAS users often have a history of and a current problematic social situation, that AAS use is often combined with a polysubstance drug use, that AAS use is connected to criminal activities including crimes of violence and
weapon crimes, and that AAS use can be a gateway to the use of other drugs of abuse.
