Roid Rage

Raoul Mote is no doubt a very bad man. He has already killed a police officer, wounded another and his former girlfriend. Today he is still at large, well armed and hiding out in a vast tract of Northumbria, England.

The story, awful though it is, is already following a predictable arc in our media. Inevitably he will be caught or killed - then comes the investigation in to what went wrong. In fact it's already started with the usual whining from the media about why the police haven't caught him yet. Mostly the whining is coming from the very same media who want to see massive cuts in public spending, including the police. But I digress.

The drugs angle? Anabolic Steroids. Allegedly Mote was/is a bodybuilding ex-doorman. As those of his ilk often do he apparently used steroids to assist his gym workouts. What steroids do is allow the body to recover more quickly from heavy exercise than might otherwise be possible - thus increasing the amount and frequency of training and so leading to that bulked up look so favoured of bouncers. The downside? Lots of side effects:

• Raised blood pressure.
• Increased risk of heart and breathing problems.
• Risk of blood-borne diseases through poor injecting technique and hygiene.
• Tiny testicles.
• Mental health problems.

What the media will focus on is 'roid-rage'. Yes, steroids can cause unpredictable mood swings. But what they most likely do is exacerbate pre-existing mental health or emotional conditions. So if you're very angry already, you get angrier still.

We'll see calls for more legislation, a parliament gagging for cheap votes which will support upping the legal costs of using steroids, the inevitable driving underground (further) of steroid use and zero impact on the use of steroids.

So, no change there then huh?