Steroid use among young people has risen four-fold, new figures show

Drug use by young people has fallen in the past decade – but the number taking steroids has risen four-fold, official figures show.

According to findings from the Home Office’s 2016/17 Crime Survey for England and Wales, drug use has stayed flat year-on-year – but fallen significantly in the last decade.

Roughly one in 12 adults (8.5%) aged 16 to 59 had taken an illicit substance in the last year, equating to around 2.8 million people, which was similar to the 8.4% recorded in the 2015/16 research. But the figure is a “statistically significant” fall on a decade ago, when it stood at around one in 10 (10.1%).

According to the survey 19.2% (1.2 million) of young people aged 16-24 reported using a drug in the last year, which is lower than the 24.2% a decade ago.

But the figures also reveal a four-fold rise in the use of anabolic steroids, with 19,000 more young people using these type of drugs, in contrast to the previous trend of declining use.

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The rise, which takes the proportion from 0.1% of the population to 0.4%, has been attributed by some experts to images of masculinity portrayed on popular reality TV shows like Love Island.

The Home Office said the trend in last year drug use among 16 to 59-year-olds has been flat for eight years.

Cannabis remains the most commonly-used drug, with 6.6% of respondents having taken it in the last year, followed by powder cocaine at 2.3%.

There was also a fall in the use of new psychoactive substances (NPS), previously known as “legal highs” before they were criminalised last year.