Abstract
Explanations of gendered drug use traditionally focus on large-scale societies and emphasize theories like the fetal protection hypothesis to explain these gendered differences. To address the significant gap in understanding about drug use patterns in small scale societies, this researcher tests common theories of drug use on a sample of small-scale societies. Study examines possible sociocultural, political-economic and evolutionary factors that may affect female drug use. The results support general male bias in drug use but when female drug use is examined, substantial variation is found. The drugs examined in this study include: tobacco, alcohol, cannabis, cocaine, coca, peyote, pituri, datura, coffee/tea/cocoa, fly agaric, opium, areca betel nut, gasoline/perfume, kava, sweetgrass, mescal beans, sumac, salal, lupine root, kola nut, other substances, and unspecified substances.