ABSTRACT
Drinking patterns and drug-associated diseases are different in men and women. Women are more likely to abuse alcohol, over-the-counter agents and prescription medications, whereas men are more into cigarettes, marijuana, and hard drugs. 1 More than 80% of all studies of substance abuse are confined to men, and these differences are often not appreciated and are usually overlooked in the establishment of treatment programs. The important problems produced by practicing addicts during pregnancy in terms of permanent injury to the unborn child, the production of withdrawal in the child at the time of delivery, and the transmission of diseases to the newborn, principally AIDS and hepatitis, are substantial economic burdens in our society and one of the costly, but less heralded side effects of addictions; these problems are discussed in the next chapter.
