Adolescent athletes and the demand and supply of drugs to improve their performance

Introduction. - Little is known about the main methods and means employed to supply adolescents with doping agents and others substances used to improve their sporting performance. Main facts. - A study in France among all the adolescent of the 'Union nationale du sport scolaire', using a self-completed questionnaire, furnished 6402 exploitable questionnaires, corresponding to 48.9% for the girls and 51.1% for the boys, both aged on average from 16.1 +/- 2.2 years. These adolescents practise on average 10.0 +/- 5.2 hours of sport per week. 21.9% participate on a national or international competition level. Of our respondents, 4.0% said they had been enticed into using products, which are prohibited for athletes. 10.3% of the adolescents stated that they had received substances to improve their performance at least once from an average of two different people. It was mostly a friend, their parents and the family doctor. In nearly half the cases (46.6%), the adolescent paid for the product. Conclusion. - It is necessary to better understand the ways in which this black market functions: for example; the initial sources of the products sold, the number and the 'profiles' of the dealers, the general organisation of the market and the sums of money involved. (c) 2005 Elsevier SAS. Tous droits reserves.