Historical and Political Perspective: Women and Drug Use

Abstract

Societies have usually regulated the use of drug substances with differences in rules of usage for men and women. This paper explores the political and historical factors contributing to this difference. Gender is linked to the use of drugs for therapeutic or recreational purposes and there seems to be greater social sanction for medicinal use for women. Women are bigger users of psychoactive drugs. Some possible reasons discussed are women's physiology, the relative health status of men and women, different aspects of sexually assigned role, and socially determined double standards in substances prescribed and proscribed. Women and alcohol in the U.S. history are traced from colonial days through the temperance movement to the present.

Cannabis use among Australian adolescents: findings of the 1998 National Drug Strategy Household Survey

“…For example, the proportion of the overall Australian It is also possible that community debate concerning cannabis and changes to its legal status in some Australian jurisdictions may be especially influential among women. Gomberg (1982) suggested that women might be more law-abiding than men, and that there was more stigma attached to women who use illegal street drugs. 24 The promotion of cannabis as a socially acceptable and harmless drug could be expected to reduce the stigma previously associated with cannabis use for females.…”

“…Gomberg (1982) suggested that women might be more law-abiding than men, and that there was more stigma attached to women who use illegal street drugs. 24 The promotion of cannabis as a socially acceptable and harmless drug could be expected to reduce the stigma previously associated with cannabis use for females. Changes in rates of cannabis use among young females, and a lack of consistent gender differences were also reported in a recent German study of adolescent cannabis use, 25 suggesting that the pattern reported here may reflect a developing international trend.…”

Drinking patterns between men and women in two distinct Brazilian communities

“…22 Other authors have found that women's intoxication reduces social control of their sexuality, making them either more sexually disinhibited or more sexually vulnerable. 23 Traditionally, women's drinking has also been discouraged or concealed because it was incompatible with domestic roles, and might interfere with social control over family relationships and public behavior. 3,9,22 If gender differences in alcohol use have a sociocultural basis, as women's roles become similar to male roles, women and men's drinking behaviors would be expected to converge.…”

Historical Perspectives on Alcoholism Treatment for Women in the United States, 1870–1990

“…In some ways, however, feminist activism brought new attention to addiction, including alcoholism, among women (Gomberg, 1982;Filmore, 1984aFilmore, , 1984bFilmore, , 1986Herzberg, 2008). One measure of these changes was the establishment in the mid-1970s of an Office of Women's Programs in the NCA, the organization that had been founded by Marty Mann (Brown & Brown, 2001, pp.…”