Drug use at every level of sport is "fast becoming a crisis," UK Anti-Doping said in response to a BBC poll into doping in amateur sport, according to the BBC. It found more than a third (35%) of amateur sports people said that "they personally know someone who has doped," and 8% said that "they had taken steroids." Half believe performance-enhancing substance use is "widespread" among those who play sport competitively. UKAD CEO Nicole Sapstead described the figures as "incredibly alarming." A BBC State of Sport investigation into doping in U.K. amateur sport also found that 49% thought performance-enhancing drugs were "easily available." According to figures from UKAD, there are "currently 52 athletes and coaches serving bans." Of these, "only 12% are professional sports men or women; 62% are amateurs, 21% are semi-professional, and 5% are coaches." Sapstead: "Certainly the figures as regards the prevalence of performance-enhancing substances at an amateur level are incredibly alarming. That said, it does confirm what UK Anti-Doping has long suspected. ... I don't think any sport can say that they don't have a problem at an amateur level" (BBC, 3/20).
