Every year, thousands of bodybuilders journey to the Thai resort city of Pattaya to buy performance-enhancing drugs that can cause life-threatening heart damage. They are lured by the low cost and ease of acquiring steroids in pharmacies where they can be bought without prescriptions or a face-to-face visit with a doctor. In fact, the pharmacists often talk the customers through a process called bulking up _ taking a combination of pills and injections to rapidly increase muscle mass.
One of the most popular anabolic steroids on sale in Pattaya is methandienon, a chemical cousin of the classical anabolic steroid Dianabol. It is made by a number of local pharmaceutical companies and sold in small medicine pots with the label “anabolic steroids” or’methandienon tablets’. It is widely used by people who want to increase their muscles and weight, and also for some medical reasons such as osteoporosis or muscle weakness.
A significant number of these users are from Australia, a country with severe restrictions on the sale and importation of sports medicines _ including steroids _ which can attract heavy fines or even prison terms. The New South Wales state police force seized more than 12,000 steroids from a single person at Sydney airport on Christmas Day, found in his luggage as well as strapped to his body.
Steroids are also legally available in many countries _ but they can be abused and have side effects that may not show up for a while, such as the so-called glue ear (otitis media with effusion, OME), where fluid collects in the middle ear. This can lead to hearing loss and behavioural problems in children, especially boys. Steroids Thailand
