Substance abuse in Pennsylvania has been on the rise during lockdowns and restrictions due to COVID-19. | Adobe Stock
Substance abuse in Pennsylvania has been on the rise during lockdowns and restrictions due to COVID-19. | Adobe Stock
While Pennsylvania is still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, another health challenge already has shown itself to be on the rise, with state agencies reporting numbers indicating the opioid crisis has grown worse during COVID-19.
Pennsylvania’s multi-agency Opioid Command Center had been seeing progress in combating the problem since the center was created in 2018, according to coverage by ABC 27. But Ray Barishansky, deputy secretary of Health Preparedness and Community Protection at the Department of Health, said last year brought a reversal of those trends.
“As we continue to evaluate 2020 overdose trends, we’re seeing a significant uptick in fatal overdoses through data reported to the Department of Health,” Barishansky was quoted as saying by ABC 27.
But opioids aren’t the only substance abuse problem on the rise, ABC 27 reported in another story. Heavy alcohol consumption, which the Journal of the American Medicine Association indicated was already climbing, has also increased. Jen Smith, Pennsylvania Drug and Alcohol Programs secretary, said that the coronavirus pandemic only appears to have “pressed the accelerator,” with a spike following the reopening of liquor stores.
“We just saw huge increases in the volumes of people seeking out those substances, some because they had a substance-use disorder and others because they were using those substances to cope with some of the anxiety, depression and stress that was setting in as a result of the pandemic,” Smith was quoted as saying by ABC 7.
Additionally, a RAND Corp. study indicated the increase was especially pronounced among women, who increased their heavy-drinking days by 41%, according to ABC 27. Dr. Sarah Kawasaki, director of the Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute Addiction Services, attributed that increase to women being more significantly affected by lockdowns and other stresses during the pandemic.
The combination of parents and guardians engaged in more heavy drinking with children at home and exposed to that environment, Smith said, could account for some of the increase in underage drinking as well, ABC 27 reported.
Gov. Tom Wolf imposed some of the strictest lockdowns in any state, with gatherings being limited to 25 people indoors and 250 outdoors, restaurants closed for months, and strict distancing requirements, the Wall Street Journal reports.
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