WOMEN'S ADDICTIONS HARDER TO SHAKE

A new study confirms young women are more easily addicted to smoking, drugs
and alcohol than are young men.

"They get hooked faster and suffer the consequences sooner," says Joseph
Califano of the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at
Columbia University.

The 231-page report, the culmination of more than three years of research,
studied girls and young women aged eight to 22.

Among the risks and consequences that are unique to females, the report found:

Women using drugs or alcohol are more likely to attempt suicide.

Women are more susceptible to alcohol or ecstasy-induced brain damage,
cardiac problems, greater smoking-related lung damage and liver disease.
These health problems occur more quickly and with lower levels of
consumption than with males.

Girls are more likely than boys to be depressed, have eating disorders or
be sexually or physically abused--all of which increase the risk for
substance abuse.

Key life transitions such as frequent moving and changing schools, the
first use of birth control pills or pregnancy, are times of increased risk
for girls.

The report's findings should be a signal for young women in university, who
report the greatest increases in smoking, binge drinking and drug use. The
transition to university is also when the greatest increase is seen in
young women believing that smoking helps them to relax and that drinking
reduces boredom and depression.

Despite these findings, the report is optimistic for young women leaving
university, who experience the greatest decline in drinking and marijuana
use--though not in smoking.

"Some aspects of these transitions appear to affect girls and young women
differently than boys and young men as they form attitudes, beliefs and
habits that can influence their use of cigarettes, alcohol and drugs. These
critical transitions also can be highly stressful. If girls have not
learned effective ways to deal with the stress, they may turn to tobacco,
alcohol and drugs," the report says.

The report also found that women use substances for different reasons than
men. While males are more likely to use for the sensation or to increase
their social status, women are more likely to use to improve mood, increase
confidence, cope with problems, lose weight or enhance sex.

"The findings from this study cry out for a fundamental overhaul of public
health prevention programs," says Califano. "Unisex prevention
programs--largely developed without regard to gender, often with males in
mind--fail to influence millions of girls and young women."

The study recommends that prevention programs target girls at times of
highest risk and be sensitive to the reasons they use drugs, how they get
them and the conditions such as depression that increase their risk.

"One-size-fits-all prevention hasn't worked--and it won't--because it
doesn't recognize these differences," says Califano.

Not unexpectedly, the tobacco and alcohol industries come under heavy
criticism for their glamorous portrayal of tobacco and alcohol.

"The tobacco industry has a long history of targeting its marketing efforts
to young women, exploiting women's desire for independence and
sophistication, and appealing to perennial female concerns about weight and
appearance," the report says. "Alcohol industry advertising makes drinking,
and by association women who drink, appear fun and sexy."

To reduce the risks for young women, the report calls on the government to
invest in research, prevention and treatments that focus on the special
needs of girls and women. The media should refrain from making positive
associations with drinking and smoking, and should refuse to accept alcohol
and tobacco advertisements for television and for magazines with high
proportions of young female readers. Parents, educators, and doctors are
also urged to do more preventative work with girls.