I live in The Netherlands and we've always been known as sort of a 'drugs-friendly' country (don't know what other way to desrcibe it). I think that's mostly due to the fact cannabis has been sort of legal here since the 1970's and the use of ecstasy and cocaine is higher than in other countries. You can even get your hard drugs tested for free at official health organizations. But that approach seems succesful: even tho some drugs (like ecstasy and cocaine) are used more than in other countries, there are not more cases of addiction, health problems or deaths than in other countries. There's also very little use of drugs by needle compared to other countries. Drug use is a bit more common among gay men, but that's very local to big cities. Surveys found around 10% of gay man participate in chem sex, but I think surveys include the use of poppers as chem sex as well. It's kinda shocking to me to read that it seems to have become so common in other countries like the US and it's not just party drugs like ecstasy, which has a low risk of health problems and addiction anyway. I really feel like goverments should break the taboo surrounding drugs by altering their strategy. The Netherlands might be an example of the better way to go around this. The 'war on drugs' the US has been on is costing billions yearly, but resulted in record-high overdose deaths, and mass incarceration that mostly impacts minority and lower-income communities. Instead, governments should provide good health care to those struggling with drugs and set up education that's not just 'it's dangerous, so don't do it'. There's more to it than that. People should know the differences between drugs, how they work, and what the personal and societal risks are, alcohol included (spoiler alert: it does both the biggest personal and societal harm of any drugs overall). Only by talking about it and being open about it, you can help people prevent addiction and death, and make sure the people who are gonna use anyway will do it safely. Believing you can stop all drug use is naive, I think. It would help if governments would act on that. I hope op can find queer spaces they can connect with. A quick Google search showed me the highest estimate of drug use among gay men in the US is 15%, so there must be spaces left for you to feel safe!