Antiandrogen Drugs

Cyproterone Acetate (CPA)

Treatment specialists are in disagreement over whether CPA suppresses only pedophilic attraction, or reduces sex drive in general. No controlled studies have been conducted.¹⁷
Possible side effects: weight gain, fatigue, mood disturbance, growth of breasts, loss of body hair, hot and cold flashes, reduced sperm production, sterility, gynecomastia, hypersomnia, depression, alteration in adrenal functioning, testicular atrophy, diabetic symptoms, and damage to the bones and liver.¹⁸

Approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1992 as a contraceptive over objections from consumer and women’s health organizations due to its link to uterine and breast cancer.
No controlled scientific studies of its safety have been conducted.
Not approved by the FDA for use with sex offenders, but the law allows drugs approved for one use to be prescribed by physicians for other uses.
Not marketed for use with sex offenders because manufacturer Upjohn considers its use as a condition of sentencing or parole as beyond normal medical practice and does not want to "be construed as encouraging the inappropriate prescribing of a non-approved drug."
Usual dosage with sex offenders is approximately 40 times the dosage when used as a woman's contraceptive.¹⁹
Possible side-effects: weight gain, fatigue, mood disturbance, growth of breasts, loss of body hair, hot and cold flashes, reduced or abnormal sperm production (which may lead to birth defects), sterility, headaches, malaise, depression, hyperglycemia, insomnia, nightmares, difficulty breathing, nausea, leg cramps, irregular gall bladder function, diverticulitis, hypogonadism, hypertension, phlebitis, thrombosis (which may lead to heart attack), diabetic symptoms, and damage to the bones and liver.²⁰

Langevin calls the long-term use of antiandrogens "suspect and dangerous."²¹
The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) writes that their use on adolescents should be reserved for the most severe sexual abusers and discouraged for use in adolescents younger than 17 years of age. It writes that due to the considerable ethical and legal implications of their use, a "signed informed consent statement, which is comprehensive and detailed in scope with full disclosure of the side effects, risks, and potential benefits, is necessary before initiating treatment."²²
Crawford writes that because sex drive reducing drugs are administered to adjudicated offenders, possibly as an alternative to lengthy incarceration, free consent does not exist. However, Hall writes that the use of these drugs is voluntary.²³