For over two decades, Belong To has supported lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer young people across Ireland. From their experience and from national and international research, they found that LGBTQ+ youth are using drugs at higher rates compared to the general youth population – a lot higher. Brenda Kelly, Drugs and Alcohol Senior Youth Worker at Belong To, explores the factors that influence how LGBTQ+ youth in Ireland approach drug use.

According to the 2024 Being LGBTQI+ in Ireland study by Trinity College Dublin, a combined 81% of LGBTQ+ 14–24-year-olds had taken drugs (not for medical reasons), compared to 40% of the general youth population in Ireland aged 12-25 in the MyWorld national study of youth mental health in Ireland by UCD and Jigsaw. This is a stark difference. Why are LGBTQ+ young people more likely to be using drugs?

General climate in Ireland
We’ve celebrated political and social progress relating the LGBTQ+ rights in Ireland over the past three decades. But in recent years, we’ve experienced a slow but steady increase in discrimination and hate – including violence, hate crime and hate speech. Social rejection, discrimination and hate towards LGBTQ+ identities have a profound impact on the mental health and self-esteem of LGBTQ+ youth.

Research tells us that drug use is used as a coping mechanism in social situations to manage mental health, while many studies highlight bullying, victimisation and a lack of social support in childhood as leading to higher rates of drug use among LGBTQ+ young people.

These issues remain a reality for many in Ireland today. Our 2022 School Climate Survey found that 76% of LGBTQ+ second-level students felt unsafe at school, 1 in 3 reported that other students were not accepting of LGBTQ+ identities, and 58% had heard a school staff member make a homophobic remark. When schools, communities and society feel unwelcoming and unsafe, young people can often turn to drug use as an escape.

Family rejection
Within the family home, research suggests a link between negative reactions to ‘coming out’ as LGBTQ+, and family rejection because of a young person’s LGTBQ+ identity, with an LGBTQ+ young person’s drug use.

This is reflected in our LGBTI+ Life in Lockdown: One Year Later report published in 2021, which showed that 56% of LGBTQ+ young people who took the survey reported that they were not fully accepted in their home environment because of their LGBTQ+ identity. This survey also revealed that among LGBTQ+ youth who had used drugs, 74% reported that their LGBTQ+ identity was not accepted at home.

Additionally, LGBTQ+ young people who had experienced homelessness in the past year were twice as likely to have used drugs than those in stable accommodation. Another study, commissioned by Focus Ireland and Belong To, found that many of the LGBTQ+ young people who reported using drugs had begun to do so, or increased their use, after becoming homeless.

So we know what’s happening, and we have a sense of why it’s happening. What can we do about it?

 

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I was compelled to apply for my role in Belong To through interactions with LGBTQ+ youth in a previous role at a homeless service. Through working with LGBTQ+ young people experiencing homelessness, I saw an acute need that brought me to Belong To to support LGBTQ+ youth who are engaging in misuse of drugs and alcohol.

One such young person was Tom (a pseudonym to protect his identity). Tom is a young gay man who was in active addiction and chose to sleep in a homeless service night cafe rather than homeless hostels because he did not feel safe in hostels. Tom is a member of the Traveller community and was ostracised from his family because he was a gay man. He had an addiction to crack cocaine and benzodiazepines. He struggled with internalised homophobia and carried a lot of shame because of his sexuality. He was not ‘out’ to other service users due to fear of further isolation and abuse.

When I began working in Belong To, Tom would occasionally come to the door and I would go down and chat to him. He would not come into the office or access our groups because he was ashamed of his addiction. Clearly, no one service can currently meet his needs in isolation. We need to equip the wider drug sector with the capacity to support LGBTQ+ service users, and Belong To is leading on this work. Tom is just one story, but there are many more LGBTQ+ youth out there, carrying shame and needing multidisciplinary support from a range of services, including Belong To.

The service that we offer at Belong To is completely free, confidential and non-judgmental. It is based on the harm-reduction model and focuses on reducing the risks and harms around alcohol and substance use. LGBTQ+ young people need a space to go to discuss these issues free from judgment and fear, and at Belong To, we can offer that space.

As an organisation, Belong To supports and advocates for the decriminalisation of drug possession for personal use. Some of the LGBTQ+ young people involved in developing our position shared their difficulties in getting a job because they had been charged with possession of a very small quantity of drugs.

When discussing these experiences together, the young people in our service found that those from working-class areas were far more likely to be stopped and searched by An Garda Síochána than young people living in middle-class areas, meaning that it was more likely for working-class LGBTQ+ young people to face a criminal conviction for drug possession.

We also offer supports for the parents of LGBTQ+ youth, which can help create safe and supportive homes for young people and increase their levels of wellbeing. Family support workers, social workers and healthcare professionals need LGBTQ+ inclusion and awareness training to be able to meet the needs of their service users.

At Belong To, through our programmes, services and inclusion training, we are working to prevent drug misuse by creating safe and supportive spaces for LGBTQ+ youth. But we cannot do this alone. We need increased investment and commitment from Government and policy-makers who can make changes at a national policy and legislative level, fund awareness and inclusion campaigns and family supports and services.

I recently made the case for this at a hearing of the Oireachtas Committee on Drug Use to sitting TDs and Senators, pre-election. The response from the committee members was great – empathetic and invested. I hope that as the next Government forms, we will see a continued energy behind solving some of the root causes of LGBTQ+ youth drug use and providing and funding adequate and comprehensive supports in place to help those in difficulty with drugs, including our services.

If you are an LGBTQ+ young person and have any concerns around your drug and alcohol use, you can talk to Belong To’s dedicated Drug and Alcohol Youth Worker. Visit www.belongto.org for more info. We offer a dedicated drug and alcohol service for LGBTQ+ youth. The service is free cost, confidential and non-judgemental.