Abstract

In recent years, there has been a rise in image and performance enhancing drug (IPED) use. With understanding access and supply of drugs important to harm reduction, this article explores IPED supply on a ‘surface web’ fitness forum, outlining a typology of suppliers located in this space, through a digital ethnography drawing data from over 28,800 unique forum posts. Results explore the diversity of supply observed in this cultural space, examining supply along four axes, between open/closed; general/specialist; established/opportunistic; and finally between steroid ‘brewers’ manufacturing product, and ‘resellers’ of premade product. This typology informs understanding of how the ‘open’ yet culturally-embedded market structure of forums influences diverse norms of supply, which challenge traditional conceptions of illicit drug markets. The article also illustrates how culturally-embedded market structures in increasingly popular digital market spaces are influencing supply norms.