Self-Perceived Problematic Relationship with Drugs and the Use of Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) Services among Gay and Bisexual Men

Self-Perceived Problematic Relationship with Drugs and the Use of Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) Services among Gay and Bisexual Men

Professor Adam Bourne

Statistics show drug use, including cannabis, cocaine, ecstasy and methamphetamine for example, is up to three times higher among the Gay and Bisexual male population, nationally and globally.

Drug related harms occur from risky drug use, increasing the risk of disease transmission. For example, methamphetamine use and erectile dysfunction has been reported to increase the odds of HIV infection among this population.

Other drug related harms among Gay and Bisexual males have been observed from the use of GHB and crystal meth. Of concern is the increased mortality rates attributed to GHB overdoses in London, with one death reported every 12 days between 2014 and 2015 in addition to poor ART adherence secondary to crystal meth use.

The Flux study aimed to understand how drug use is situated among gay and bisexual men. How comfortable are they engaging with alcohol and other drug (AOD) services? What are the barriers? One point of note was that there was a fear of judgement and the perceived lack of understanding from AOD services in terms of the synthetic types of drugs being used and the different ways Gay and Bisexual men use the drugs compared to other populations.

A comment from the audience triggered the response that a move forward may be to try to meet the needs of people who are sexually active and who chose to use crystal meth, exploring ways of how to use it safely.

The overall aim is to reduce disease transmission and improve engagement with AOD services for all, but in particular for those who believe their drug use is problematic.