The use of the whole spectrum of drugs has become a major source of threat to the health of women and girls. In 2018, an estimated 269 million people worldwide, including women or girls, continued to use drugs including opioids. The restrictions on movement, gatherings and social distancing which were imposed to counter the COVID-19 pandemic have resulted in an increase in the use of alcohol, sedatives and pharmaceutical opioids and the prevalence of the non-medical use of opioids and tranquillizers among women continue to remain higher than with men.   

In this paper, Soroptimist International offers a broad overview, aiming to address barriers to education, poverty, and violence in order to prevent women or girls from continuing to be vulnerable to drug abuse.

Read the paper below:

Where We Stand Statement: Women and Drugs

You can read Linda Witong’s reports from the Sixty-forth Session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs:

• “Shifting the Needle: The Impact of Global Policy on Women” HERE.
• “From Pandemic to Prevention in the Americas” HERE.