KEY POINTS:
Gay, lesbian and bisexual people are higher users of drugs and alcohol than heterosexuals, research shows.
Massey University researchers analysed data from the New Zealand Health Behaviours Surveys commissioned by the Ministry of Health.
Researchers found 42.7 per cent of gay, lesbian and bisexual groups had regularly smoked cigarettes in the last year compared to 27.7 per cent of heterosexuals.
Over the last year they were also more than twice as likely to have used marijuana, nearly four times as likely to have used amphetamines on a regular basis, more than four times as likely to have used LSD and more than three times as likely to have regularly used Ecstasy.
Gay, lesbian, and bisexual populations were only slightly more likely to use alcohol.
Lead researcher Frank Pega said the public health policy on substance use needed to address the issue by including gay, lesbian and bisexual communities as priority populations.
"The findings also highlight a need for health promotion initiatives and substance use interventions targeted specifically at gay, lesbian and bisexual populations to be established."
Mr Pega, who will present the findings to the Public Health Association conference this week, said it was the first comprehensive evidence from a general population survey that showed differences existed between the groups.
"Other research has already established that gay, lesbian and bisexual people's substance use is related to their exposure to personal, institutional and societal discrimination and to social stress arising from this experience of marginalisation."
The researchers also compared sub-groups, finding that in particular disparities were elevated for lesbian and bisexual women with regards to illicit drug use, and for gay and bisexual men with regards to alcohol and tobacco use.
The Health Behaviours Surveys on drug use interviewed 15,000 people by telephone in 2003 and 2004.
- NZPA
