In the UK, Anabolic and Androgenic Steroids (AAS) – often referred to as IPEDs (Image and Performance Enhancing Drugs) – are classified as Class C drugs under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. While this places them in the same category as some other controlled substances, the law treats AAS differently in key ways. What’s Legal – and What Isn’t
• Personal possession: It is legal to possess anabolic steroids for your own use. The law is not designed to criminalise individual users.
• Prescription use: Some AAS can be legally prescribed and supplied by a pharmacist for genuine medical needs.
• Supply and manufacturing: Producing, selling, or supplying steroids without a licence is a serious criminal offence. Even giving them away to a friend is illegal. Penalties can be as high as 14 years in prison and/or an unlimited fine.
• Importation rules: You can personally bring steroids into or out of the UK if they are for your own use and carried in person. However, since 2012, ordering steroids online, by post, or via courier is illegal – a measure introduced to prevent the flood of unsafe, unlicensed products into the UK.
The Underground Market
Despite the legal restrictions, the underground steroid trade in the UK is enormous. Much of it is supplied by Underground Laboratories (UGLs), often operating from homes, sheds, garages, or small industrial units. Standards of hygiene and safety vary dramatically, leaving users at risk of contaminated or mislabelled products.
The profits from UGL operations can rival those of Class A drug supply chains, and demand is high. The UK consumer market is estimated at over one million users, many of whom are not competitive athletes but instead take steroids purely for vanity-driven physical enhancement.
Additionally, is the sourcing from abroad from countries where IPEDs are promoted as being produced in certified laboratories. However, experience has shown this to be somewhat treated at face-value, with produce falling short of strict UK safety standards.
Why Expert Witnesses
Matter Cases involving IPEDs are specialist within a specialist area of drug expertise. Many general drug experts do not engage with steroid cases due to their complexity and niche nature. At Claymore Expert Witnesses, however, we have multiple experts with deep experience in IPED investigations, having worked on some of the largest steroid-related prosecutions in the UK.
With our knowledge of both the legal framework and the underground market, we provide courts with the clarity needed to properly assess the evidence and the realities of the steroid trade.