Beefed-up dealers are flogging tanning injections and bodybuilding steroids to vain punters alongside Class A drugs, an academic has claimed.
Dealers on the streets now offer steroids to increase performance in the gym and tanning injections to darken users’ skin – known as Image and Performance Enhancing Drugs (IPEDs).
And those buying the illicit drugs may look at the sellers’ “massive arms” as validation that the stuff works.
The drugs, many of which are legal or unregulated, pose little risk to dealers if searched by police.
Gangs are also taking advantage of the police’s lack of understanding of new drugs to get away with selling them, according to Robert McLean, lecturer in criminology and policing at Northumbria University.
He interviewed dealers and gang members in Glasgow for a new paper on so-called ‘county lines’ drug trafficking.
His research showed ‘serious organised crime groups’ have taken over from the smaller gangs that used to run the city’s drug dealing operations.
Dr McLean said: “The police force doesn’t have all the knowledge.
“If you get stopped with heroin or cocaine or whatever, it’s immediately recognisable.
“People know what it is straight away. The other stuff isn’t as recognisable.
“It’s not as profitable as cocaine and heroin, but it’s got the potential.”
The academic said that punters might be convinced by a dealer’s “massive arms” when they buy cosmetic drugs illicitly.
He added: “When people go to drug dealers, they believe that the dealer is like a shop and they know what they’re talking about.
“They think of the dealer as a bit like a safety net.
“The people that I found that were selling the performance enhancing drugs tended to be the sort of people who were taking the drugs.
“So they had a great deal of knowledge on it, but what that knowledge is based on is questionable in itself.
“You’ve got somebody to talk the talk, they look the part, people say he knows what he’s talking about.
“He’s got massive arms, he knows all this stuff about cosmetics.
“He’s got all the lingo as well, using all the terminology.”
Cops say cosmetic and performance drugs are an “increasing trend and one which does not come without risk” in Glasgow.
DC Greig Baxter, who works on Glasgow’s drugs intelligence squad STOP, said: “Officers regularly deal with individuals and organised crime groups with involvement in Image and Performance Enhancing Drugs (IPEDs) and associated medicines.
“Our Statement of Opinion Unit is a dedicated resource which regularly gives advice to patrol officers on controlled drugs, substances and medicines.
“Education and raising awareness of the harms associated with illicit IPED use is equally important.
“We are working with partners including the Border Force, Trading Standards, local councils, NHS, Alcohol and Drug Partnerships and other drug services to share drug trend information and raise awareness about the harm caused by substance use.”
