Survey says girls more apt to try drugs, booze
By Jon Brodkin / Daily News Staff
Monday, February 20, 2006 - Updated: 01:11 AM EST

Girls are now more likely than boys to begin using marijuana, alcohol and cigarettes, in what federal officials say is an alarming reversal of past trends.

The trend, which began in 2002 and was discovered in a national survey, came as no surprise to some local high school students.

"It doesn’t surprise me, especially not with drugs that are going around now," said Stephany Villaneueva, an 18-year-old senior at Framingham High School. "Girls are so susceptible to being peer-pressured, especially if guys are around them that they want to impress."

"Girls go to parties," Colleen, another Framingham High senior, said to explain why female students are drinking alcohol and smoking pot. "That’s what they do to get with guys, pretty much. It’s an excuse to go crazy."

One substance abuse specialist says the problem goes beyond girls using drugs to fit in with their male peers. In some cases, girls are now the ringleaders who "set the social agenda," leading other students to use illegal drugs and partake in underage drinking.

"It used to be the significant male peers, the jocks who set the social agenda. Now, oftentimes, it’s the young women who do it and the guys are along for the ride," said Patrick Rice, a psychotherapist and substance abuse specialist at MetroWest Medical Center in Framingham and Natick.

In 2004, 675,000 girls ages 12 to 17 began smoking pot, compared with 577,000 boys, according to a report by the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

In the same year, 1.5 million girls started drinking alcohol, compared with 1.29 million boys. New cigarette smokers numbered 730,000 among girls and 565,000 among boys.

"Despite commonly held beliefs that boys are at higher risk for using illegal substances, data indicate that girls have caught up with boys in illicit drug and alcohol use and have actually surpassed boys in cigarette and prescription drug use," the Office of National Drug Control Policy said.

Overall drug use has declined among both teenage boys and girls. But federal officials say the recent trends pinpoint a need for parents to speak more frequently with daughters about the dangers of drug and alcohol use.

Prior to 2002, boys were more likely to initiate use of marijuana, alcohol and cigarettes than girls, federal officials said. Girls surpassed boys in first-time use of marijuana in 2002, and surpassed boys in first-time use of alcohol and cigarettes in 2004.


"You see that the girls are actually drinking more than the boys are sometimes. You’ll often have girls brought into the emergency room, or girls passing out," said Dr. Nupur Gupta, medical director of the Center for Adolescent Health at Milford Regional Medical Center. The trends disturb health officials because research shows girls may become addicted to nicotine faster than boys, and that drinking alcohol can disrupt growth and the onset of puberty in adolescent girls.

Many girls have little desire to smoke cigarettes and marijuana. "I don’t think girls do it as much as guys do. Girls are more hygienic," said Josie, a freshman at Framingham High. Some say the frequency of drug use among kids makes it difficult for those who would rather abstain. "I think a lot of people are doing it. It’s hard for people that don’t agree with it. It’s caused a lot of problems between friends now, too," said Colleen, the Framingham High senior.

Girls seem to be less likely to receive treatment for their problems than boys, said Bill Horne, executive director of Genesis Counseling Services, a substance abuse treatment center in downtown Framingham. Parents are more likely to push sons into treatment because there is less of a stigma attached to boys using drugs and alcohol, Horne said. Boys make up about 80 percent of adolescent clients at Genesis, he said.

"I think it goes back to the stigma of treatment, that a male can be an alcoholic but a female can’t be, she’s a mother. That is slowly breaking down," Horne said.

Girls, in contrast with boys, often use drugs and alcohol to self-medicate mental health problems like depression and anxiety, Gupta said. "Girls do it more because they’re trying to solve problems in their own life, either at school or at home," Gupta said.

A large minority of Gupta’s patients -- about 12 percent to 15 percent -- are abusing prescription drugs, she said. Horne sees the problem, too, and blames television advertising of medications that convinces people they need a pill to feel good.

"If I had a chance to take one thing off television," he said, "it would be all medical advertising."

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