During the COVID-19 pandemic, it was common to see jokes and posts online that said, “it’s five o’clock somewhere.” At first, people waited until 5 pm to drink alcohol, but as the isolation wore on, the socially acceptable time to start drinking got earlier and earlier. According to the National Institute of Health (NIH), about 25 percent of people were drinking more than usual as a coping mechanism during the pandemic. This excessive drinking contradicts the decade-long decrease in alcohol use. However, according to the NIH, this behavior is normal during natural disasters and crises, and alcohol use increases and slowly returns to the pre-disaster baseline. However, the COVID-19 spike has yet to decrease. Along with alcohol, marijuana and hallucinogen use has reached highs for a certain age group (18–to 25–years old). Why are we seeing an increase when, historically, trends should be leveled and continuing to lower?
Monitoring the Future (MTF) is an agency that studies and records changes in attitudes and behaviors of different demographics. These MTF longitudinal studies start at an early age to track public opinion and the use of drugs. An annual survey concerned with substance use behaviors and attitudes conducted in 2022 shows a significant increase in marijuana and nicotine vaping and hallucinogen use. Adults aged 35 to 50 have the greatest increase, and about 85 percent of the population surveyed had participated in substance use for alcohol. Additionally, binge drinking, having five or more drinks in a row, was prevalent in 30 percent of the population.
This increased use has led to a spike in alcohol-related deaths. In 2020, alcohol-related deaths accounted for 19 deaths per 100,000 men and 7.5 deaths per 100,000 women. Alcohol-related deaths can include alcohol poisoning, liver diseases, and sudden pancreatitis. While the ratio of alcohol-related deaths in women was lower than that of men, there was a 26 percent increase from 2019 to 2020 — with the highest increase among women aged 35 to 44.
MTF also found that marijuana usage for the past 12 months was 28 percent of the population, and daily usage — 20 or more instances of using marijuana in the past 30 days — was 6.5 percent. The legalization or decriminalization of cannabis in many states could cause this increase, which could explain why trends have yet to level. Other consequences, like economic changes and public opinion, are documented thoroughly as the substance reclassifies. The rates are much lower than alcohol — a nationally legal substance — but the increasing trends suggest marijuana use will mimic alcohol use. It is also notable that as vaping (marijuana or nicotine) increases to 28 percent, cigarette use decreases from 20 percent to 16 percent. Criminologists and health professionals believe that vaping is slowly replacing cigarette usage.
