The booming trade in performance-enhancing drugs lures bodybuilders from all over the world to Thailand’s seedy beachside town of Pattaya, where pharmacists offer them at prices 10 times less than they sell for back home. Australians in particular are flocking to the country’s south and southeast coast, travelling from far and wide to take what is known as a “steroid holiday”, where they cycle through combinations of the drugs over a period of up to two months, until they are bulked up enough to return home and compete with other amateur bodybuilders.

Despite being labelled as dangerous drugs in Australia, pharmacies in cities like Bangkok and Pattay sell them freely, often without a prescription and for off-label purposes. Steroids are synthetic hormones that mimic testosterone, which instructs muscle cells to grow bigger and stronger – although prolonged use of the drug is linked to serious side effects. These include infertility for men, breast tissue growth in women and impotence – all of which are not usually fully reversible.

Some of the more popular drugs on sale in Thailand are testosterone, nandrolone and methyltestosterone. A pharmacy on 2nd Road in Pattaya, which was raided by police in 2010, is known among the city’s bodybuilders as a reliable source. Its windows are plastered with a visual catalogue of drugs, including Andriol and Testoviron, which can be bought for 840 and 3,000 baht respectively – a fraction of what they sell for online. Steroids Thailand

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