More use of drugs, alcohol during pandemic
The claim: “Now with the COVID-19, and suicide, more people are dependent on drugs or alcohol.” — U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va.
Manchin made the remark in reference to a bill he’s sponsoring, the Crisis Care Improvement and Suicide Prevention Act. The legislation would direct states to use 5 percent of their federal Mental Health Block Grant funding to support crisis care services.
PolitiFact ruling: Mostly True. Manchin misused the term “dependent” to refer to overdoses and other individual drug crises like those targeted by his bill. That said, official West Virginia data shows increases in emergency room visits due to overdoses in June, July and August 2020 compared with the same months in 2019.
National data shows increases in reported overdoses in a majority of participating counties, as well as increases after the enactment of stay-athome orders. And one academic study found increased alcohol use nationally during the pandemic.
Discussion
Statistics from the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources show that emergency room visits related to overdoses were higher in June, July and August 2020 than they were during the same months in 2019.
There is also evidence that rates of overdoses have increased across the country more broadly during the pandemic.
We looked at data from the Overdose Detection Mapping Application Program, which collects real-time data from law enforcement agencies, fire departments, emergency medical services, hospitals and medical examiners.
The data shows that after the onset of the pandemic in March, almost 62 percent of participating counties experienced an increase in reported overdoses. The number of suspected overdose reports rose by almost 17.6 percent between the weeks before and after state stay-at-home orders were imposed.
There’s also evidence of increased alcohol use after the pandemic hit.
A study by researchers from the RAND Corp. and Indiana University’s School of Public Health found that self-reported use of alcohol increased by one day more per month for three out of every four adults during the pandemic. Increases were seen in such subgroups as women, adults between 30 and 59, and non-Hispanic whites.