Shining a light

Chemsex: the facts in the UK and Wales

Real numbers, from published sources. Behind every figure is a person, and support is out there.

Getting help

Many people never reach support

41%

of LGBTQ+ people who used drugs in the past year had never sought support (London survey of 334 people).

Source: London Friend and LGBT HERO, Chemsex Survey Report 2026

73%

of recent users in the same survey named mental health as a concern, the most common one.

Source: London Friend and LGBT HERO, Chemsex Survey Report 2026

98%

of 874 men who accepted a brief drug intervention at 56 Dean Street, a London sexual health clinic, had never used drug support before.

Source: Stevens, Moncrieff and Gafos, Sexually Transmitted Infections (2020), citing 56 Dean Street data

Wales

The picture in Wales

288

drug misuse deaths were registered in Wales in 2024, out of 417 drug poisoning deaths. That’s up 13.8% from 253 in 2023, the highest number on record. These figures don’t record sexuality or chemsex, so the full picture is hidden.

Source: Office for National Statistics, deaths related to drug poisoning, 2024 registrations (Table 1); Public Health Wales, Harm Reduction Database Wales: drug related mortality, annual report 2025

77%

reduction in new HIV diagnoses among men who have sex with men in Wales between 2015 and 2021. Progress is possible.

Source: Welsh Government, HIV Action Plan for Wales 2023–2026

Why we’re asking

Building the Welsh evidence

There is very little chemsex data for Wales. Most figures come from England, and especially London. That’s why Day One Club is gathering Welsh evidence through an anonymous survey, so that services here can be planned around what people in Wales actually need. No names, no emails.