People with autism may be more likely to use recreational drugs to self-medicate their mental health

Weir, E., Allison, C., and Baron-Cohen, S. Understanding substance use in adolescents and adults with autism: a mixed methods approach. The Lancet Psychiatry (2021).

Commentary

There has been significant discussion of substance use in adults with autism.

Some studies indicate that individuals with autism are less likely to use substances, while others suggest the opposite. Using a "mixed methods" design, the team at the Autism Research Center in Cambridge considered both the frequency of substance use among individuals with autism and their experience with self-reporting of substance use.

One thousand one hundred and eighty-three autistic and one thousand two hundred and twenty-three non-autistic adults (ages 16-90) provided information on the frequency of substance use through an anonymous online survey. Of the respondents, 919 provided detailed information about their substance use experiences.

According to the results, adults with autism were less likely to use substances than their non-autistic peers, and 16% of adults with autism reported drinking three or more days per week, compared to 22% of non-autistic adults. Four percent of adults with autism who reported this drinking also reported binge drinking.

There were also some gender differences in substance use among participants, with males with autism being less likely to report using drugs, such as snorting, and females with autism showing no differences in patterns of smoking or frequency of drug use. However, despite these results, qualitative findings indicate that adults with autism　are about nine times more likely to report using recreational drugs (e.g., marijuana, cocaine, amphetamines) than non-autistic individuals.