Developing drug services for amphetamine users: taking account of gender-specific factors

Abstract

Research suggests that the incidence of drug use is converging between young men and women. However, the development of effective services for women is restricted by the scarcity of information regarding female drug use. Studies that address women's illicit drug use tend to focus on opiates, despite the popularity of amphetamine in Britain, which is particularly marked among women. This paper presents findings from a study of amphetamine users in the north-west of England, using a matched case-control design to compare amphetamine users in treatment with a similar group of users who had no treatment contact. It compares the characteristics of the amphetamine-using women (n = 20) with those of the men (n = 66). Further analyses of gender differences were conducted with the treatment sub-sample to describe the women's motivations for seeking help, and their outcomes after 3 months of treatment. The results revealed a group of women whose drug use was similar to their male counterparts except for being more likely to be oral users. However, there were differences in the influence of social relationships on the two groups, which may impact significantly on women's patterns of help-seeking and their experiences of drug treatment.