Regular Users IV - Sex Differences in UK Drug Use

Atha MJ, Blanchard S & Davis S (2000)

Version 1.0

The IDMU Regular Users IV Survey involved a total sample of 2173 drug users who completed anonymous questionnaires at pop festivals and other UK events during 1999.

Respondents were questioned about their patterns of drug use, including age of initiation to using a range of specified legal and illegal drugs, and monthly spending and subjective ratings of these drugs, amongst a variety of other questions including political opinions, drug prices, driving behaviour and health effects.

Sample Demographics
	Income ***		Age (all) ns		Sex (all) n %
Male	871	10840	1214	27.66	1242	57.16%
Female	550	8932.54	734	27.16	747	34.38%
Not stated	108	11195.01	145	28.47	184	8.47%
Total					2173

Alcohol, Tobacco & Cannabis - quantitative measures of use
	n	mean	n	mean	n	mean	n	mean
	Can Use ***		Can Buy ***		Can Spend **		Can spend 2 **
Male	1063	31.63	1011	58.20	828	117.07	738	96.10
Female	598	18.81	522	19.15	435	59.15	406	56.68
Not stated	134	24.76	127	36.36	98	98.68	88	83.05

	TC per day †		Alc units wk ***		Cigs per day *		Spliffs per day ns
Male	1045	4.78	1037	25.28	805	12.38	840	6.34
Female	638	4.45	594	16.07	451	11.21	456	5.05
Not stated	133	4.98	132	18.61	99	14.23	107	5.88

Numbers having ever used, and Age at first use of each drug by sex
	TC 1st ***		Tob 1st ns		Alc 1st ns		Can 1st †
	n	mean	n	mean	n	mean	n	mean
Male	1008	6.97	998	13.64	1031	12.32	1043	15.64
Female	635	8.18	618	16.27	655	12.31	641	16.17
Not stated	123	7.54	127	13.96	133	12.38	136	15.62

	Amp 1st ns		Bas 1st ns		Coc 1st ns		Opi 1st ns
Male	776	18.07	474	19.59	625	21.07	286	20.41
Female	426	18.18	233	18.88	329	20.69	128	21.68
Not stated	93	17.60	56	19.27	78	20.65	37	19.84

	Mus 1st ns		Cra 1st ns		Her 1st ns		Sem 1st ns
Male	746	18.36	132	22.73	170	21.62	3	19.33
Female	361	18.58	49	21.61	79	20.34	2	18.00
Not stated	87	18.34	21	24.71	28	21.54	2	9.00

	Ket 1st ***		LSD 1st ns		Ext 1st ns		Bar 1st ns
Male	196	22.82	723	18.07	638	20.94	100	18.71
Female	98	21.49	380	18.2	358	20.42	38	17.39
Not stated	24	26.62	89	18.18	79	20.85	17	17.94

	Tra 1st ns		Sol 1st ns		Met 1st ns		Ghb 1st ns
Male	159	18.99	152	14.36	58	21.79	38	24.13
Female	120	19.14	73	14.11	23	19.96	18	23.67
Not stated	22	19.95	20	15.75	12	21.42	5	23.20
					93
	Pop 1st †		Ste 1st ns		Oth 1st
Male	512	18.01	11	18.27	65	22.88
Female	299	17.29	8	18.38	33	19.27
Not stated	63	18.59	4	18.25	8	19.62

Numbers recently buying drugs and Monthly spending on drugs (£ per month) by sex
	TC £ **		Tob £ ns		Alc £ **		Can £ **
	n	mean	n	mean	n	mean	n	mean
Male	596	8.31	648	38.71	723	65.20	738	96.10
Female	419	7.16	401	36.90	466	48.45	406	56.68
Not stated	76	12.66	82	40.32	89	59.04	88	83.05

	Amp £ ns		Bas £ ns		Coc £ **		Opi £ ns
Male	195	20.71	117	18.80	145	62.15	15	32.67
Female	99	15.96	57	25.91	52	44.33	3	2.33
Not stated	23	21.00	13	19.23	14	117.68	4	127.5

	Mus £ ns		Cra £ ns		Her £ ns		Sem £ n/a
Male	121	5.05	14	68.57	12	49.17	n/a	n/a
Female	54	1.70	2	30.00	12	138.75	n/a	n/a
Not stated	18	3.06	6	73.50	11	533.45	n/a	n/a
							1	0
	Ket £ ns		LSD £ ns		Ext £ †		Bar £ ns
Male	21	17.71	167	7.78	258	26.36	8	11.38
Female	11	10.42	57	7.40	139	23.09	5	1.20
Not stated	4	10.00	16	4.72	26	16.37	2	7.50

	Tra £ ns		Sol £ ns		Met £ ns		GHB £
Male	16	5.16	4	1.75	5	20.00
Female	12	3.48	3	5.00	1	0
Not stated	2	2.00	1	8.50	3	1.67