​People in the UK are most likely to combine drugs with sex, study finds

A new study published in The Journal of Sexual Medicine shares research by the University College London and the Global Drug Survey that reveals a great deal of new insight regarding global trends of substance-linked sex.

Surveying 22,000 respondents from the US, Canada, Australia and various parts of Europe, the Global Drug Survey found that Brits are the most likely to combine drugs with sex.

People from the UK are most likely to incorporate cocaine, MDMA and mephedrone with their sex life. The study describes the Brit's use of mephedrone - also known as white magic or meow meow - with sex as "particularly striking". Apparently cannabis is the drug that UK respondents incorporate the least with their sex life

The report found that alcohol was by far the most popular substance consumed before sex. Around 58 per cent of men and 60 per cent of women who took part in the survey claimed they drank before sex in the past year. Cannabis placed second most popular drug linked to sex and MDMA came in third with 15 per cent of respondents admitting they've taken the drug before hitting the sheets.

Other popular choices included cocaine, ketamine and poppers. GHB/GBL and MDMA were the two drugs rated most favorably in terms of "emotionality/intimacy" and "sexual desire".

"Our study is by far the largest to date to investigate the relationships between sex and drugs," says founder and director of the Global Drug Survey Professor Adam Winstock. "Previous studies have rarely compared men and women, and people of different sexual orientations".

Homosexual men were 1.6 times as likely as heterosexual men to have used drugs with the specific intent of enhancing the sexual experience in the last year. Methamphetamine, mephedrone and GHB/GBL - substances that are considered "chemsex" drugs that are often taken with the intent of enhancing sex - were more commonly used by gay and bisexual men.

"While using drugs in combination with and to specifically enhance the sexual experience tends to be associated with gay and bisexual men, we found that in our sample, men and women of all sexual orientations engaged in this behavior," states the study's lead author, Dr. Will Lawn. "Harm reduction messages relating to substance-linked sex, in general, should therefore not only be targeted towards gay and bisexual men, as they are relevant to all groups".

The purpose of the study was to further understand how drug use plays into peoples everyday lives and they hope with these new statistics can help "deliver harm reduction messages in a more trustworthy and nuanced manner".

Check out the full study here.

[via: UCL]

Cameron is Mixmag's Jr. Editor. Follow him on Twitter

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