- Why may the pandemic favor the use of stimulants?
- How does the pandemic affect the frequency of using various stimulants?
- Stimulants and pandemic: reducing anxiety may result in addiction
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The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the way the world works in many different ways. The changes affected the world economy, the functioning of families and schools. The impact of the pandemic on human use of psychoactive substances is rarely mentioned, but it turns out that consumption of some of them may have increased and that of others it may have decreased.
The use of various psychoactive substances by people - drugs, alcohol - has long attracted the attention of public he alth professionals around the world. Special educational campaigns are being prepared and various preventive activities are carried out in schools. The aim is for as few people as possible to use the banned and these commonly available psychoactive substances and that ultimately the he alth losses caused by their use are as low as possible. A variety of factors can counteract any such effort, including the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Why may the pandemic favor the use of stimulants?
People turn to drugs and alcohol for a variety of reasons - one of which is experiencing a lot of stress. While psychoactive substances can actually bring relaxation, this is a very illusory "solution" to the problem. Their use does not lead to its withdrawal, but only masks it, so when the patient returns to a state of full sobriety, he may feel even more stress due to the fact that he may be tormented by remorse related to deliberately driving himself intoxicated.
There is probably no need to convince anyone that a pandemic can be a source of stress. It is worth mentioning here another, slightly less obvious problem, which may also contribute to the more frequent use of psychoactive substances than before - we are talking here about remote work or remote learning.
Back then, when students had to go to school and adults had to go to work, masking the effects of psychoactive substances was much more difficult - after all, it is difficult to hide the smell of digested alcohol, clearly visible hand tremors or enlarged pupils. Currently, when studying or working remotely, some people may think that they canallow yourself to drink more alcohol than usual before work or to take any drugs before work.
Considering the above, it would seem that the pandemic in general led to an increased consumption of various psychoactive substances. The data that comes after appropriate analyzes may, however, be surprising - it turns out that, just like some psychoactive substances are now taken more often, the consumption of others has decreased.
How does the pandemic affect the frequency of using various stimulants?
Interesting data on the consumption of psychoactive substances during the pandemic were presented in the Journal of Adolescent He alth. The research was carried out on a group of Canadian teenagers and it turned out that just as in the period of an unfavorable epidemiological situation they began to use alcohol and marijuana more often, they used MDMA and cocaine less often. The reasons for this development may be really different, the authors of the study suggest, inter alia, the fact that the reduction in cocaine and MDMA consumption may be due to the fact that these substances are usually ingested in social gatherings that have been significantly reduced due to the pandemic.
The above describes how the use of psychoactive substances has changed by representatives of one age group - it is possible that in people older than the respondents the situation would be slightly different. Overall, however, it can be concluded that a pandemic can definitely affect how often people use various psychoactive substances.
Stimulants and pandemic: reducing anxiety may result in addiction
Whether or not there is an ongoing pandemic, use of legally available psychoactive substances such as alcohol should be exercised with extreme caution. After even a very short time, it may turn out that the occasional, daily "relaxation" drinking glass of wine or a single drink may turn into an addiction, from which it will not be easy to break out of it.
It should be emphasized once again what has already been mentioned here - no psychoactive substance will allow you to solve problems that bother you, regardless of whether the person uses it for professional, family or some other kind difficulties. When it is difficult for a person to deal with their emotions on their own, you should use the support of relatives or seek the help of specialists, e.g. a psychologist or psychiatrist.
About the authorBow. Tomasz NęckiA graduate of the medical faculty at the Medical University ofPoznan. An admirer of the Polish sea (most willingly strolling along its shores with headphones in his ears), cats and books. In working with patients, he focuses on always listening to them and spending as much time as they need.