Use, Misuse and Gender Differences

Abstract

The use of drugs in Western societies has been associated with male gender roles and behaviours, being poorly regarded in female behaviour. For males, drug use has most often been regarded as a risk behaviour, a deviation or an illness when serious consequences for health have arisen. On the other hand, for women, drug use has been viewed as a vice, a disease, a response to female problems or disorders and, above all, a transgression of women’s traditional roles.

The vulnerability of women is exacerbated by their invisibility: few resources are allocated to cover the needs of female drug users; there is a shortage of staff trained on gender matters; treatments begin at a late stage; a growing number of women are imprisoned in men’s prisons; few if any women hold responsible positions in drug user associations; etc. Thus, the invisibility that exacerbates their vulnerability results in complete exclusion in some cases. At the same time, the invisibility of female drug users is obvious not only when they are the object of policies but also when they are the subject.

We can foresee that as a gender approach is incorporated into the policy guidelines designed and issued by the various organisations dedicated to drafting drug policies in the European Union, and as these guidelines are effectively applied by the member States, we will be able to obtain clearer information about the problematic uses and the contexts in which drugs are used and about the treatment programmes and the accessibility by all the people who need such programmes, which also cover women’s needs, with their strategies and resources.