Women are built differently from men. They are physically smaller. They carry less water in their bodies. They have hormone fluctuations due to menstruation. They can get pregnant. The list goes on. So to properly approach gender-specific treatment and fully understand how men and women respond to drugs, we must first consider the physiological variances between the genders when drugs are involved.

A result of biology, women actually process, metabolize, and eliminate drugs of abuse very differently than their male counterparts. In general, they are more sensitive to the consumption of alcohol and drugs and more prone to their long-term effects. Their bodies retain drugs and alcohol for longer periods of time. For this reason, women tend to experience negative physical consequences of drugs and alcohol much sooner and with lower consumption levels than men. Specifically, women are quicker to develop dependence, organ damage, and diseases relating to substance abuse.

How does the female body process drugs of abuse?

Several biological factors play a role in how women absorb, process, and experience drugs. Below are some of the attributes that can contribute to the negative physical effects of substance abuse in women:

1 Body fat : While women are physically smaller than men, they typically have higher levels of body fat. Because many drugs are designed to dissolve in lipids, women are more likely to trap certain drugs in their body for longer periods of time.

2 Water weight : Recent studies have found that when men and women of the same body weight consume equal amounts of alcohol, women have higher blood alcohol concentration levels. This is due to the lower volume of water in women’s bodies compared to men’s. Women have less water to dilute drugs and alcohol in their systems.

3 Hormones : Specifically relating to painkillers, the female body experiences higher levels of pleasure and pain relief when taking drugs. Research has indicated this response is directly related to estrogen, which tempers the body’s pain receptors.

Sources - https://www.turnbridge.com/news-events/latest-articles/how-do-drugs-affect-the-female-body/#