Use Of Performance Enhancing Drugs To Be Explored

Forces in Mind Trust has awarded £42,357 to the University of Sunderland to conduct a year-long project to identify the prevalence, motivations and mental health status of users of Performance and Image Enhancing Drugs and Supplements (PIEDS) amongst ex-Service personnel…

The study is taking place in the North East of England and will be facilitated by Finchale College, Durham, where researchers will explore why ex-Service personnel take body enhancing drugs, when they became users (pre, during or post-service), the processes involved, and the level of awareness users have of the negative consequences of PIEDS, in order to inform the development of interventions and education programmes.

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Previous or current histories of PIEDS users within the Criminal Justice System will also be investigated, as will any link between usage of body enhancement drugs and supplements with mental health and wellbeing of ex-Service personnel.

Ray Lock, Chief Executive of the Forces in Mind Trust, said: “It is important to get a better understanding of the reasons why ex-Service personnel take performance enhancing drugs and supplements and how and when they become users, particularly given the negative consequences of their use.

“The Armed Forces as part of wider society are not immune to this problem, particularly given their need to be physically robust. We look forward to this research to help determine the degree, if any, of this problem amongst our ex-Service personnel to ensure that the appropriate support is in place.”