Young Men Seek Muscle in the ‘Wild West’ of Alternative Peds

When Jason was 17 and “trying to get swole,” he said he and a friend started noticing they were getting served Instagram videos from gym influencers promoting a drug called MK-677. Intrigued by the promise that the drug would make them hungrier, so that they could eat more for muscle building without getting full, the teens “started sending the videos back and forth to one another,” said Jason, who is using a pseudonym to protect his privacy.