In 2006, the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONCP) came out with a new analysis called “Girls and Drugs”. It disputed the commonly held belief that boys are at higher risks of using illegal substances, and stated that girls have caught up with boys, and have actually surpassed boys in many different drug uses. It also indicated research showing girls are more physically and psychologically more vulnerable to the impact of drug and alcohol use. This highlights the importance of women’s addiction treatment. Reading the press release, it is understandable to think this seems to be a serious problem today, but looking closer at the data, the problem does not seem as big as the ONCP made it out to be. It appears the ONCP had picked out certain data and used these numbers to stretch the truth. The reality of the situation does not reflect what the ONCP has conjectured. Unfortunately, many journalists read the press release solely and do not look at the data it was based off to find out if the analysis is accurate. Looking at recent epidemiological data by the National Survey of Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) and the Monitoring the Future study (MTF) there seems to be a different and more relaxing picture painted compared to the one painted by the Office of National Drug Control Policy. First, taking a look at the ONDCP report, the first figure states “More adolescent girls than boys started using marijuana, alcohol and cigarettes in 2004” (2006:1). Instead of illicit drugs in general, the next figure focuses solely on marijuana, “More adolescent girls than boys started using marijuana in 2002, 2003 and 2004” (2006:2). This statistic is a little misleading because yes, while although more girls aged 12-17 are trying the drug more, this does not necessarily mean they are doing the drug more. Unlike most articles when this report came out, Maia Szalavitz, a journalist at the Huffington Post, studied the data the report was based on and argued their interpretation. She puts it like this, “Most people would define a ‘drug user’ as someone who takes drugs regularly: but the media, the drug czar’s office and CASA defined a drug ‘user’ as someone who may have only taken a drug once. Under this definition, our current President is a drinker and former President Clinton counts as a marijuana smoker.” (2006) According to this definition, there are more girls “using” drugs. To understand the entire picture, one needs to realize that the boys are more likely to try the drug more than once. In the newest study by Monitoring the Future, in every category of marijuana prevalence, males have had a higher percentage than females since the early 90’s when the data started to be recorded (2015:13,19,25,31). Furthermore, looking at the results of most recent study done by the NSDUH, the same study the ONCP based their information off of ten years earlier, Figure 2.11 titled, Past Month Marijuana Use among Youths Aged 12 to 17, by Gender: 2002-2013, it doesn’t take a trained eye to see that males have had a higher percentage of recent (past month) marijuana use since 2002 (2013). The MTF puts it like this, “On average, female users take fewer types of drugs and tend to use them less frequently than their male counterparts.” (Szalavitz 2006) Putting it blatantly, girls are more likely to try a drug, whereas boys are more likely to stick with and use the drug more often. The ONCP report also states that more girls are smoking cigarettes in the past month than boys. They stated this, “One out of eight teenage girls reported smoking cigarettes in the past month (12.5% compared to 11.3% for boys). (2004 NSDUH)”, but looking at recent past month cigarette use among youths done by the NSDUH, there is an obvious downward trend in tobacco use. From 2002-2006, when the report came out, females were the higher percentage, but from 2007 to 2013, the tables turned, and males outweighed the females. Overall the percentage of tobacco use between male and female youths is very similar, and therefore hard to say which is using more, but what is clear is that there is a steep decline in use by both. (NSDUH: 4.4) In addition to marijuana and tobacco, the ONCP report states that more teenage girls reported drinking alcohol in the past month compared to the percentage of boys (18% to 17.2% respectively) (2006:3). When looking at the MTF data, in almost every category of 30-day prevalence of alcohol, male youths have a slightly higher percentage, but generally it is pretty even (2015:199,205,2011,2017,223,229,235,241,247,253,259,265,271,277). When looking at gender differences in current, binge, and heavy alcohol use among persons aged 12-20, there seems to be a trend. Figure 3.8 in the NSDUH shows a pretty even relationship between males and females in regards to current alcohol usage, with males slightly outnumbering females. But, as you move towards binge and onto heavy alcohol usage, the gap between males and females gets bigger (2013). There seems to be a common trend among all of these drugs. Girls are more likely to try a drug and do so earlier, but as time goes on, boys make up for their lag and continue to use drugs more on a daily basis. This pattern can be seen as far back as the late 70’s, across drug classes, with girls tending to lead boys in drugs that can be used for weight loss (Szalavitz: 2006). Maia Szalavitz states in her article, “16.5% of female high school seniors reported amphetamine use at least once in 1975, while only 15.6% of their male classmates did. In 1996, 3.1% of 8th-grade girls reported cocaine use that year; only 2.9% of 8th-grade boys said they’d taken cocaine then.” She goes on to say that in regards to painkillers, just 1.8% of girls 12-17 report use in the last month, while 2.6% of boys do. In general, more boys than girls have used any prescription drug in the last month, with 3.2% of boys reporting such use, compared to 2.4% of girls (2006). There are very few drugs females out-use males, but looking at MTF data of Amphetamines, Methamphetamines, and over-the-counter cough/cold medicine, 8th grade females have a higher percentage of annual usage, but in the 12th year, males surpass females (2015: 133,157,187). This supports the idea that males, while they may try the drug later in life, will generally end up using the drug more on a continual basis. The NDSUH even states, “In 2013, as in prior years, the rate of current illicit drug use among persons aged 12 or older was higher for males (11.5 percent) than for females (7.3 percent). Males were more likely than females to be current users of several different illicit drugs, including marijuana (9.7 vs. 5.6 percent), cocaine (0.8 vs. 0.4 percent), and hallucinogens (0.7 vs. 0.3 percent).” (2013:2.11) The ONCP report goes on to say that adolescent girls are more vulnerable to unique physical, psychological and social risk factors for drug and alcohol abuse. In short, the report says that alcohol and drugs will cause girls to develop low self-esteem and depression. They say girls are more vulnerable to peer pressure, and this makes sense because girls generally care more about fitting in. This would explain why girls are more likely to try drugs earlier in life than boys. Girls who have low self-esteem might be more entitled to peer pressure, and therefore are more susceptible to drink just to fit in. It’s hard to say whether girls are becoming depressed because they are doing more drugs, or they are doing more drugs because they are becoming more depressed. It even says in the ONCP report “Stress has been identified as a leading reason for drinking, smoking, and using drugs among girls. (The Commonwealth Fund, 1997)” (2016:3) Lastly, the report shows the importance of parental control. In the press release, a quote from the Director Walters says, “Over the last few years, we have seen overall drug use decrease among teens – boys and girls. But the trends of substance use among our adolescent girls are alarming,” said Director Walters. “Over the last few years, we have seen overall drug use decrease among teens – boys and girls. But the trends of substance use among our adolescent girls are alarming,” “Girls are telling us that they understand the risks associated with drugs, alcohol, and cigarettes. But that doesn’t appear to be stopping them from using. We are urging parents to become aware of the unique risks that make our daughters vulnerable to substance use and to talk to them about why it’s important to stay drug-free.” (2006. Press Release) In regards to the NSDUH statistics, the perceived risk of alcohol use and drug use has been constant since 2002, except for marijuana. Interestingly enough, marijuana use in the past year has gone up, alcohol has remained constant, and other illicit drugs have been declining (2013: 2.11,2.15,6.2,6.3). If the overall drug use is decreasing among teens, then one could conclude that girls do “appear to be stopping”. When looking at Figure 4.4 of the NSDUH, seeing that after 2006, females dropped below the male percentage line, one might be able to argue that the ONCP article made a difference, but looking at everything else, it is hard to see the point they were trying to make. The report by the Office of National Drug Control Policy seemed to only look at one section of the NSDUH data, and display it in a way that creates an epidemic. In reality, this report seemed to be much overblown. Yes, it is much easier to see it this way 12 years later, but even in 2006, when the report came out, the “trends” were still less than substantial to make accusations. Fortunately, there are still journalists out there who care to see the entire picture, like Maia Szalavitz. Works Cited MTF. 2015. DEMOGRAPHIC SUBGROUP TRENDS AMONG ADOLESCENTS IN THE USE OF VARIOUS LICIT AND ILLICIT DRUGS 1975–2015. Ann Arbor, MI: The University of Michigan NSDUH. 2013. Results from the 2013 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: Summary of National Findings ONDCP. 2006. Girls and Drugs. Report ONDCP. 2006 New Report on Alarming Trends in Girls’ Use of Drugs, Alcohol, Cigarettes, and Prescription Drugs -Girls Are Catching Up With Boys in Use of Illicit Substances and Alcohol, Warn White House Drug Czar, Seventeen Magazine, and Medical Experts. Press Release Szalavitz, Maia. 2006. Media Botches Drug Trends. Huffington Post
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