CONCLUSIONS Female drug abusers traditionally have posed treatment problems for therapists in the drug abuse field. Information dealing specifically with female drug abuse, however, is limited. Therapists, program planners, and policy‐makers alike express a desire to improve intervention techniques with women; but until some better understanding of female drug abuse is gained, recommendations must be tentative. The bulk of the data available has focused on descriptive studies and studies which attempt to show relationships between certain psychological or sociological components of the female drug abuser's life and her subsequent drug abuse. Although these types of data provide useful information on the phenomenon, the explanatory or predictive power of empirical research is lacking. The field is clearly in need of theoretical formulations and applications. For instance, can the female drug abuser's apathetic attitude toward treatment attempts be explained partially by an external locus of control (the perception that external forces seem to control her life, so that her own efforts will have very little to do with whether or not. she is able to abstain from drug use)? Successful intervention strategy depends on this kind of information.