This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:

There's a whole new population of injecting drug users. They buy peptides online for muscle building or weight loss, to aid workout recovery or to improve their skin or sleep. Few see themselves as injecting drug users.

But these peptides are drugs, injected like any other. They're often distributed by illicit online sellers and don't come with safety advice.

Peptide injectors may not go looking for injecting advice, or assume the safety information doesn't apply to them—those who do often don't know where to find it.

Injecting without that guidance is already harming the health of these new drug injectors. Peptide-related hospitalizations in New South Wales have surged, from five in July 2025 to more than 200 in September 2026.

Let's look at how we got here and the safety basics injectors need to know.

Australian needle and syringe programs are free services that hand out sterile equipment.

Many of these services have reported a dramatic increase in people seeking injecting equipment for peptides.

This is putting pressure on needle and syringe programs that were historically funded to distribute injecting equipment to reduce the spread of bloodborne viruses such as HIV.

Services in some regional towns have reported that syringe vending machines have emptied within hours of restocking.

Unfortunately, when sterile equipment runs out, it's not long before people who use drugs share needles .

Source link