Female Drug Use, Abuse, and Offending

Abstract

Females make up about a third of all drug users. Gender disparities in drug usage decrease the younger the users are, and females in more developed nations tend to use illicit drugs more than females from other nations. Gender differences in drug use are most likely due to gender differences in social stigma for women who use drugs and to differential opportunities for men and women to use drugs. Females tend to use drugs such as opioids and tranquilizers at a greater rate than men; males are more likely to use cannabis, cocaine, and amphetamines. Even though prevalence of drug use is higher for males, women are just as likely as men to abuse drugs and to become addicted. Much of what we know about female drug use and abuse has emerged in the last 40 years; it was not until the 1980s that more researchers began to include females in their studies. Changes in sentencing over the last decades of the twentieth century caused a dramatic increase in the incarceration of women for drug crimes. Conditions of incarceration for women carry additional burdens of risk in regard to sexual exploitation and assault, a lack of proper medical health services, and estrangement from families, especially children.