"When I started playing, did I think anyone around the international team was (using drugs)? No chance," Johnson, who led England to 2003 World Cup victory, told the Times.
"Would you be worried about it now? Absolutely. Things are more available, the internet, knowledge of it is more widespread.
"People are taking them, by all account, for vanity reasons."
News that makes sense
Your trusted source for staying up-to-date with the world around you. Get free daily news updates and analysis, straight to your inbox.
Johnson, however, said lucrative professional era has been the major contributing factor to the problem.
"Now the game is professional and we live in a different time where kids can see a livelihood and a good livelihood out of doing it, then you've got to be very careful," he added.
(Reporting by Hardik Vyas in Bengaluru; editing by Sudipto Ganguly)
