”A lot of people come to Phuket because they can buy all sorts of steroids without a prescription here. Often you can even get them over the counter in pharmacies. It is not only bodybuilders that take them though – they are also used by diabetics who inject insulin, by patients having surgery who need cortisol injections to reduce swelling and by women taking birth control pills.”
But although some of the steroids available in Thailand are legal, possessing and selling them without a licence is illegal and can lead to prison sentences of up to one year. Moreover, the steroid industry is notorious for selling counterfeit drugs and for supplying low quality products.
This is not a problem unique to Phuket. It is a global problem involving a multi-billion dollar trade in performance enhancing drugs that are legal in some countries and illegal in others. Anabolic steroids are a class of synthetic hormones. They can have serious side effects including liver and heart damage, infertility and shrinkage of the testes. In addition, the drug has been linked to an increased risk of cancer, especially prostate cancer.
The majority of the steroid business is carried out by pharmacies that do not require a prescription. A few of them boldly advertise their wares in shop-front windows. One such pharmacy in south Pattaya, on 2nd Road, is known to sell a brand of steroids called Andriol and another, Testoviron, both forms of testosterone, for about 900 baht per tablet or bottle. Steroids Thailand