Welcome to DruGS’ PIEDs portal. The portal aims to offer a dedicated publicly accessible research resource presenting project findings and other relevant material for interested researchers, health practitioners, policymakers and consumers. It also aims to support and allow people who use PIEDs to anonymously access information.

By browsing the list of topics on the menu, you will find comprehensively collected relevant research, media reports, health education resources, popular culture representations and consumer perspectives on PIED use. These lists were carefully gathered in June and July of 2018.

The portal is based on an Australian Research Council-funded project investigating the social practices associated with men’s use of performance and image enhancing drugs (PIEDs) in Australia. It aims to better understand who takes them, when, why and how, and to create new knowledge on the health information needs of men who inject PIEDs.

Why this PIEDs portal now? The media has long been filled with stories of steroid use and doping but these stories often rely on stereotypes and offer few clues about the range of people using PIEDs, the variety of experiences people have and the many ways they understand their consumption practices and identities.

The PIEDs portal aims to inform public discussions of image and performance-enhancing drug use, to counter stigmatising misconceptions, to promote understanding and to better equip the health workforce to respond effectively.

We hope you find the PIEDs portal helpful and informative.

If you use the portal to inform your research please acknowledge it in abstracts, publications, grant proposals, and/or presentations.

For further information about the portal or the project to which it’s linked, please contact project research coordinator Dr Renae Fomiatti: r.fomiatti@latrobe.edu.au