In Scotland, transgender activists are “advising young people on how to self-medicate using illicit cross-sex hormones and puberty blockers,” and experts warn of a “booming black market” with “vulnerable youths reportedly sourcing illegal supplies from street dealers and online vendors,” according to a report from the Scottish Daily Express.
A U.K.-wide ban on the sale, supply, prescription, and dispensing of puberty blockers for minors was introduced on a temporary basis in June 2024 after the Cass Review revealed the evidence of the harm they cause; that ban was made permanent in January 2025 by the pro-LGBT Labour government. It is a criminal offense to supply puberty blockers to minors in Scotland.
“Medical experts have issued stark warnings that self-medicating with these unregulated drugs carries severe health risks, including fatal dosing errors and contamination,” reported the Scottish Daily Express on March 1.
“Despite the dangers, a group operating under the name Trans Harm Reduction (THR) recently hosted a ‘Self-Med 101’ workshop inside a Glasgow bar … Shockingly, the group also actively offers assistance with ‘accessing supplies for trans people who are self-medicating in Ireland and Scotland.’”
The workshop included “the basics of self-medicating from costs to dosages to how to do things safely.”
“It’s frankly terrifying that vulnerable young people could be encouraged to use black market puberty blockers,” said Dr. Sandesh Gulhane, the Conservative shadow health secretary. “This would put lives at risk, and anyone involved in pushing these illicit medications must be investigated.”
A Scottish doctor, who spoke anonymously to the Sunday Times, shared Gulhane’s fear.
“To have organisations that facilitate self-medicalisation with no clinical oversight is dangerous,” he said. “The greatest harm is in the prescribing of cross sex hormones. These are used off licence and there is mounting evidence of the increased risk of irreversible harms, which include stroke, ischaemic heart disease and early mortality.”
“These groups bypass general practice, thereby removing safeguards,” he continued. “They are trans-led – one states it is a grassroots community group involving no medical professionals. There is no screening for comorbidities such as autism or trauma. There is a disclaimer stating they ‘cannot provide authoritative medical advice’ and, as such, absolve themselves of any medico-legal liability.”
They claim harm reduction by signposting patients to where they can have blood taken, but also provide advice on how patients can analyze their own results, again bypassing GP safeguarding.
A witness to the Glasgow workshop told the Sunday Times: “I witnessed hosts openly recommending websites for sourcing cross-sex hormones, of a fund to subsidise purchases and distributing syringes, needles and swabs. One referred to a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy on age, suggesting they were content to supply supplies such as injecting equipment to minors without verification.”
“Therapy was absent from discussion and irreversible changes and side-effects barely mentioned,” the witness added. “Peer-to-peer networks linked across Signal groups [secure messaging] and real-life meet-ups are quietly building an underground supply chain that bypasses clinicians entirely.”
“The uncomfortable truth is some of those charlatans now operate within self-described ‘trans community’ spaces. This parallel system, dangerous, illegal in key respects and almost impossible to eradicate, risks irreparable harm to vulnerable children and young people.”
Trans Harm Reduction, however, stated that it will continue its activities – and echoed the arguments made by pro-abortion activists who insist that abortion must be legal because otherwise it will be perpetrated illegally.
“Trans people will continue to self-medicate regardless of whether they can access support from medical professionals,” they claimed. THR now works to connect gender dysphoric youth with illegal drugs and keeps a “private list” of doctors willing to help.
Police Scotland have stated that they are keeping a close eye on the situation. “Emerging drug trends are monitored and we will act proportionately to any increase in the prevalence or circulation of new or existing drug types,” they said in a statement.
