Women use substances for a variety of reasons, but many women who use substances and who
access anti-violence services report using substances to cope with the violence, the resulting
effects on their physical and mental health or other stressors in their lives
dependency has been found to be up to 15 times higher for women impacted by violence than
in the general public.
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Additionally, victims of violence are more likely to use multiple types of
substances and to use higher levels of substances than those who have not experienced
violence.