A 2026 analysis of the European Web Survey on Drugs found that 874 of 6,399 respondents in Spain—13.66%, or about one in seven—said they had used illicit drugs to enhance sexual pleasure or performance at least once in the previous 12 months.
The figure applies only to adults in Spain who had used illicit drugs and voluntarily joined the online survey. It is not an estimate for the Spanish adult population as a whole.
What the survey measured
The Spanish sample came from an anonymous European Union Drugs Agency survey conducted in May and June 2024 across 30 countries. Participants were at least 18 years old and had used cannabis, cocaine, MDMA, amphetamine, methamphetamine, heroin or new psychoactive substances during the previous year.
Respondents selected reasons for using each drug and the settings in which they used it. Sexualized drug use was defined as deliberately taking a drug to enhance or prolong sex. Anyone who selected “chemsex party” for at least one drug was counted as practicing chemsex.
That approach produced a broader definition of chemsex than one limited to particular drugs or extended group sexual sessions. The analysis counted 206 people—about 3% of the Spanish sample—as chemsex-party attendees. The fact sheet reports slightly different percentages for this group, 3.2% and 3.31%, so the figure is best treated as approximate.
Patterns of use and motivation
Recreation was the most commonly reported reason for drug use, cited by 78% of respondents. Other reasons included relaxing or reducing stress, at 43%, and socializing, at 33%. Twenty-seven percent reported using drugs to improve sleep, while 26% said they used them to manage depression or anxiety, most often with cannabis.
Among the 874 respondents who used drugs to enhance sex, 81% reported using only one drug for that purpose. Thirteen percent reported using two or more different drugs, while use of five or more was rare.
Cannabis was the drug most often used for sex overall in every gender group. However, among users of each drug, methamphetamine had the highest proportion reporting sexual use, at 10%, followed by cannabis at 9%, MDMA at 8% and cocaine powder at 6%.
Methamphetamine and new psychoactive substances were most closely associated with chemsex-party settings. Nearly 10% of methamphetamine users and 5% of new psychoactive-substance users reported using them at a chemsex party. The corresponding figures were about 2% or less for cannabis, cocaine and MDMA.
Settings varied by drug
Home was the most common setting for most substances, including cannabis, heroin and cocaine. Eighty percent of cannabis users reported using it at home, compared with 60% of heroin users and 49% of cocaine users.
Some substances were more commonly reported in social settings. Seventy percent of MDMA users said they took it at a music festival or party, while 52% of cocaine users reported use in clubs or bars.
Among chemsex-party attendees, 14% reported injecting methamphetamine, compared with 4% of all methamphetamine users in the sample. The fact sheet identifies injecting during sex, sometimes called slamsex, as carrying increased risks including infection, overdose, psychosis and addiction.
Who reported sexualized use?
People who reported using drugs for sex were more often cisgender men than other respondents—66% compared with 61%—and were slightly more likely to be transgender or non-binary, at 3.7% compared with 2.4%. They were also slightly younger on average, with a mean age of 30.8 years compared with 31.5 years.
Education, income, living situation and place of residence did not significantly differ between respondents who did and did not report using drugs for sex.
Of the 206 chemsex-party attendees, 170 were men, 22 were women and 14 were transgender or non-binary. The survey did not analyze sexual orientation, so it cannot establish how many respondents were men who have sex with men.
Why the findings need careful interpretation
The results describe reported behavior in a self-selected online sample, not prevalence across Spain. Recruitment was mainly through social-media posts and paid advertisements, and drug use was self-reported rather than confirmed by testing.
The analysis also cannot show whether chemsex is becoming more common over time. Its broad chemsex definition means that selecting “chemsex party” for any drug was sufficient for classification, even when classic chemsex drugs were not involved.
The survey recorded reasons people gave for using drugs, but it did not test whether drug use improved or worsened sleep, stress, depression or anxiety. As a result, those reported motives should not be read as evidence that the substances were effective for those concerns.
The fact sheet describes chemsex as linked with higher risks of HIV, hepatitis C and other sexually transmitted infections, as well as mental-health problems. It also notes that a 2021 systematic review found that men who have sex with men who practiced chemsex were more likely to have depression, anxiety or substance dependence, although not every study found that association. These findings describe associations and do not establish that chemsex caused those outcomes.
AI tools were used to assist with the preparation of this article under our editorial standards.
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