Image and performance enhancing drug (IPEDs)

Image and performance enhancing drugs (referred to here as IPEDs) or ‘human enhancement drugs’ are drugs that can, among other things, change a person’s physical appearance, or body weight.

Some of these drugs can be legitimately prescribed to individuals, but like all drugs there can be unwanted negative side-effects and risks from use. Sometimes the packaging does not accurately describe the drugs inside.

IPEDs are taken for all kinds of reasons and used by different groups of people.

Drugs taken to prevent sleepiness

For drugs taken to prevent sleepiness and fatigue, and keep the brain active, such as modafinil and nootropics (also known as ‘smart drugs'), the people who use them may:

• be students who want to stay awake and active to work longer and harder or revise all night

• work in a job that involves irregular or overnight work hours

Drugs taken to improve strength

For drugs taken to improve strength and stimulate muscle growth, such as creatine or testosterone boosters, the people who use them may:

• use drugs for cosmetic reasons to improve their confidence through body image
• compete in sport and want to enhance their sporting performance, this could also include amateur sports participants who want to look ripped
• have jobs where looking and being big and strong is seen as important
• work in entertainment and want to improve their physical appearance

Weight loss drugs

For drugs taken to lose weight the people who use them may:

• self-medicate to treat obesity
• feel under pressure from others to lose weight
• choose to reduce excess body fat to aid performance in work or sport
• be experiencing eating or body image problems

Skin and hair drugs

For drugs taken to enhance the appearance of skin and hair such as melanotan, the people who use them may:

• use drugs for cosmetic reasons to improve their confidence through body image
• live with disease or illness which has affected their skin and/or hair

Erectile dysfunction drugs

For drugs taken to enhance sexual function and behaviour such as sildenafil/Viagra, the people who use them may:

• want to enhance a sexual experience
• self-medicate to treat erectile dysfunction (not able to ‘get it up’)

Smart drugs – such as modafinil and nootropics – can contain stimulants such as amphetamines, which can have physical side-effects such as: high blood pressure, teeth grinding, heart palpitations and dizziness and psychiatric side-effects, such as anxiety, insomnia and paranoia.

Modafinil (used for the treatment of sleep disorders) can lead to serious skin reactions and psychiatric harms, including anxiety.

There are many negative side-effects to steroids use which are listed on the anabolic steroid page.

Common side-effects of sildenafil (Viagra) use include abnormal and blurred vision, headaches and dizziness, nosebleeds, insomnia, indigestion and muscle and back pain.

Some of the side-effects from melanotan include adverse digestive and immune responses in the form of facial and chest flushing, severe constipation, blurred vision, muscle pains, lethargy, stomach cramping, nausea, vomiting, bloating, flatulence, back, liver and kidney pain.

Commonly used IPEDs include substances taken to:

• prevent sleepiness and fatigue, and keep the brain active
• change body weight
• enhance muscle size or build strength
• change appearance of skin (to make it darker or lighter)
• enhance sexual function and behaviour

How long the effects last and the drug stays in your system depends on how much you’ve taken, your size and what other drugs you may have also taken.

Mixing drugs is always risky but some mixtures are more dangerous than others.

Users are not believed to become physically dependent, but may become hooked on the way the drugs make them look and feel.

The law on image and performance enhancing drugs varies between different drugs or groups of them but here is a summary of just some of the controls applying to the most commonly used ones:

Anabolic steroids are medicines also controlled as drugs (Class C, schedule 4(ii)), which means anyone can possess them but they can only be supplied by a pharmacist with a doctor's prescription. More about them can be found at anabolic steroid page.

It is illegal to ship or sell melanotan, because it has no licence as a medicine, but it is not illegal to buy and possess.

Sildenafil (Viagra) is a medicine, not controlled as a drug, that is available to buy over the counter of a pharmacy, or online, without prescription.

Modafinil is a medicine that can only be lawfully obtained by someone with a prescription. But it is not illegal to have it in your possession.