Petrifying women in America involved in drugs (7)

I believe the answer is:

medusas

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'petrifying women' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both people as well as being plural nouns.
Perhaps there's an association between them I don't understand?

'america involved in drugs' is the wordplay.
'america' becomes 'usa' (synonyms).
'involved' is an insertion indicator.
'in drugs' becomes 'meds' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'usa' placed inside 'meds' is 'MEDUSAS'.

'in' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Another definition for medusas that I've seen is " jellyfish".)

I've seen this clue in The Sunday Times.

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