Drugs in sport.

This paper briefly reviews the misuse of some drugs and medicines by some individuals seeking an advantage in competitive sports. Probably the most abused class of substances is the anabolic androgenic steroids, much employed by competitive athletes and body builders, but also widely used by individuals in gymnasia, where the motivation is essentially to improve perceived body image. The clinician's job may be seen as minimising risk to consumers of such drugs and medicines, but access to users is inevitably incomplete because of the dubious legality of all such misuse.