Gay people are seven times more likely to take illegal drugs than the general population

And one in five show signs of dependency on drugs or alcohol. These are the findings of a report, conducted by the Lesbian and Gay Foundation (LGF) and the University of Central Lancashire, which sampled more than 4,000 people over two years. More than a third of gay, lesbian and bisexual people took at least one illegal drug in the last month, according to the study - the largest of its kind to date. This compares to 5% of the wider population who admitted using a drug in the last month in the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW). According to the researchers the most widely used substances among those surveyed were party drugs such as cannabis and poppers - a liquid nitrite sold in a small bottle and inhaled. These were followed by powder cocaine, ecstasy, ketamine and amphetamines. The study found that they were 10 times more likely to have used cocaine in the last month than the wider population, and 13 times more likely to have used ketamine. Crack cocaine use was also higher in the gay community.