INTERPOL is joining forces with the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) in a new drive to combat drug-taking, both in elite sport and recreational bodybuilding.

With Interpol reportedly believing that the traffic in performance-enhancing drugs, such as anabolic steroids, is bigger than marijuana, heroin and cocaine combined, there is concern that criminal gangs are increasingly using violence and intimidation to corner the market.

A top-level meeting in Lyons between Interpol and Wada has agreed on co-operation between the bodies. Ronald Noble, the Interpol Secretary-General, said yesterday: “Doping in sport is not only a crime in the conventional sense of the word, but it is also morally dishonest and harmful at so many levels. This ranges from the trainer, who convinces a young, impressionable athlete that taking drugs is the only way to win, to record-breaking performances, which are now questioned by the general public.

“The enormous profits associated with major sporting events for individuals, companies and even countries have made it easy for those who should be acting to turn a blind eye.”

Interpol and Wada are to draw up a memorandum of understanding to provide a clear framework for co-operation in tackling doping. David Howman, the Wada Director-General, said: “It is important that we take action now to protect young sportsmen and women from harm and to protect the integrity of sport.”

The organisations will be aiming to work together to help to catch the suppliers of drugs, who often escape censure, let alone arrest and conviction. In 2004, Interpol hosted the first international working group on doping agents, attended by representatives from 16 countries as well as organisations such as Wada and the IOC. The group recognised that it was essential that there should be stronger legislation to deter criminals from what was seen as high-profit, low-risk crime.

Although there is testing of elite competitors, the real problem area is gymnasiums, where there are no such constraints for bodybuilders. The sale and resale of hormone drugs, which are sometimes counterfeit, is widespread.

In Great Britain, successive governments over the past 20 years have failed to act with sufficient force to eradicate the problem. It is still not a criminal offence to possess anabolic steroids for personal use, even if there is no medical prescription for them.

Despite all the evidence that hormone drugs, taken in large quantities, can cause physical and psychological damage, the authorities are refusing to act vigorously. These drugs can cause mood swings and intense aggression as well as harm to vital organs such as the liver.

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