Sexual Orientation Disparities in the Use of Emerging Drugs

ABSTRACT

Background: Prescription drug, e-cigarette, smokeless tobacco, and synthetic marijuana use has risen dramatically in the United States over the past decade. Objectives: This paper investigates the use of risky substances among adolescents, and examines disparities between sexual minority (i.e., mostly heterosexual and lesbian, gay, bisexual; LGB) and heterosexual adolescents in use of novel and emerging substances. Given the public health risk and the imminence of these substances in the media, emerging drug use was examined in a county wide sample of adolescents in a Southern state. Methods: A probability sample of middle and high school students (N = 3012; ages 11–18) using random cluster methods was obtained in a mid-sized school district in the Southeastern United States. Results: LGB adolescents reported higher past-30 day and lifetime use of cigarettes (AORs =2.77, 2.90, respectively), smokeless tobacco (lifetime only: AOR = 1.88), e-cigarettes (lifetime only; AOR = 1.92), alcohol (AORs = 1.7, 2.20), marijuana (AORs = 3.02, 3.06), synesthetic marijuana (AORs = 3.77, 2.48), and prescription drugs (AORs = 3.82, 2.55). Adolescents who self-identified as “mostly heterosexual” reported higher lifetime cigarette use, and past 30-day use of e-cigarettes and prescription drugs as compared with heterosexual adolescents. Conclusions: Our results are notable given the dearth of data documenting use of increasingly emerging or “trendy” substances such as prescription drugs. More research is needed to understand the underlying cause of these disparities, and efforts should be targeted toward this population to reduce negative outcomes from misuse.

KEYWORDS:

• Lesbian
• gay
• bisexual
• synthetic drugs
• prescription drug misuse
• e-cigarettes
• substance use

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the article.

Funding

Article preparation was supported in part by grant no. T32DA016184 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse in support of E. H. Mereish and grant no. 1R21HD082813 from the National Institute on Child Health and Human Development in support of J. T. Goldbach.