HEAVY ISSUES –
July 9, 2026 – In addition to being a key feature of many eating disorders, body image disturbance and a desire to lose weight can motivate substance use—both legal and illegal—as women strive to attain a culturally valued low body weight. For example, in a nationally representative sample of more than 12,000 young adults in the US, losing weight was one of the most common motivations for non-medical use of stimulants for women (Drazdowski et al., 2020). Similarly, in a sample of 131 college students who used substances, 15.3 percent of women reported using drugs for weight control purposes; and those who did mostly used illicit stimulants known for their weight-loss and appetite-suppressing side effects (including amphetamine, cocaine and methamphetamine.
