Women and Addiction

• Get drunk quicker than men
• Become addicted to alcohol faster
• Develop alcohol related diseases at higher rates
• Are much more likely to be labeled with a secondary psychiatric diagnosis, personality disorder or an eating disorder
• Are (48%X) more likely to be prescribed a narcotic, anti-anxiety or other potentially abusable drug
• More often than men, contribute their addiction (drug & alcohol use) to a traumatic event
• Are more likely to contract HIV during sexual intercourse
• Experience higher rates of nicotine dependence
• Are at greater risk for developing lung cancer
• Still suffer a greater social stigma in society as addicts or alcoholics
• Research on substance abuse issues has primarily focused on men until the 1980s