Drug use among non-binary people in Europe: findings from European Web Survey on Drugs

Traditionally, the survey-based methods used in drug research and drug monitoring at national and European levels tend to be blind to the specific experiences of non-binary people who use drugs. The invisibility of gender-diverse people is related to the use of standard one-step methods in the sex/gender demographic question, specifically the use of binary and mutually exclusive categories (male/ female or M/F). This presentation is based on the quantitative analysis of a sample of 817 non-binary people (non-probabilistic sample) who responded to the European Web Survey on Drugs 2021 (EWSD 2021), promoted by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA). In specific, this presentation describes the sociodemographic profile, living conditions, drug use patterns (lifetime prevalence, last year's prevalence, last month's prevalence), and the context of drug use of non-binary people who responded to EWSD. The relationship between the non-binary gender identity and other categorical variables was analysed by using descriptive statistics and the Chi-square test for independence on the software IBM SPSS Statistics. This analysis allowed a preliminary identification of the specific drug use trends and health and social needs of non-binary people who use drugs, which will also be briefly included in this presentation. Moreover, this was the first time EMCDDA used a two-step approach method to collect data regarding sex (M/F) and gender (Man, Woman, Non-binary). In this sense, relevant methodological considerations regarding gender inclusiveness in survey data collection will also be presented, highlighting the relevance of systematically collecting gender-inclusive data to monitor gender-specific drug use patterns and trends and to inform the design of gender-responsive policies and social and health responses to drug problems. KEY MESSAGES: • Non-binary people who use drugs present gender-based specificities in drug use patterns. • It is relevant to systematically collect gender inclusive data to monitor gender-specific drug use patterns and trends.