"Thoughtfully examines the myriad factors that enhance vulnerability to substance-abuse problems across the life span and the unique challenges of life-stage transitions in women." -- New England Journal of Medicine

More than 7.5 million girls and women a year misuse or abuse prescription drugs. Women are up to 48 percent more likely than men to be prescribed a narcotic, antianxiety, or other potentially abusable drug.

6 million women in the United States abuse or are dependent on alcohol. Approximately one-third of all girls had their first alcoholic drink before entering high school. Nearly half of high school girls drink alcohol and more than one in four binge drink.

Approximately one in five women in the United States smokes. Teenage girls are closing the gender gap by smoking at almost the same rate as boys. Approximately 3,000 children and teens become regular tobacco users each day; almost half of them are girls.

Not too long ago seatbelts were for sissies, AIDS was considered a death sentence for gays, and smokers lit up and turned to their neighbor and said, “Would you like a cigarette?” Today our attitudes on these issues are profoundly different.

Teens who smoke nicotine cigarettes are 14 times likelier to try marijuana, six times likelier to be able to buy marijuana in an hour or less and 18 times likelier to report that most of their friends smoke marijuana.

National Survey of American Attitudes on Substance Abuse X: Teens and Parents reports "our nation’s schools are awash in illegal and prescription drugs. Since 2002, the proportion of middle schoolers who say there are drugs in their schools is up by a startling 47 percent, and the proportion of high schoolers attending schools with drugs is up by 41 percent."