The law regarding performance-enhancing drugs varies from country to country, but in most countries, anabolic steroids and growth hormones are legal only with a doctor’s prescription. In other countries, such as Mexico and Thailand, steroids can be purchased at pharmacies without a doctor’s approval for off-label use.

Steroids are synthetic variants of the naturally occurring male sex hormone testosterone, and they are known to increase muscle mass and strength. Often, bodybuilders and sportsmen from around the world combine several types of steroids with other drugs _ like fat burners _ in a process called “stacking” to maximise their effects.

But taking steroids for extended periods can have serious health consequences, including an increased risk of cardiovascular problems. They can also cause behavioural difficulties in children and a condition called glue ear, which causes fluid to build up in the middle ear, impairing hearing and leading to tinnitus.

Amateur bodybuilders from across Australia and Europe have begun heading to Thailand in search of substances that are illegal to buy at home. Many of them are on so-called steroid holidays _ spending weeks or months in Thailand to buy, take and then ship a variety of legal and illegal substances back to their homes to be used in a regime known as “cycling” _ where they alternate between cycles of different steroids to build the desired physique.

Jarrad Fisher, from Brisbane, weighed just 70kg as a teenager but decided to spend his steroid holiday in Thailand and bulk up using a diet and natural supplement regimen that would be considered illegal in Australia. During his trip, he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that he took six different types of steroids. Steroids Thailand