US EditionPublished • loading... • Updated
Alcohol Use Rises in Canada as Pandemic-Era Drinking Habits Persist, Report Finds
CAMH's 2025 Monitor report shows alcohol dependence rose from 7.4% pre-pandemic to 12.1% in 2025, with mental health indicators worsening due to increased alcohol access and stress.
- Monday's CAMH 2025 Monitor report found symptoms of alcohol dependence remain above pre-pandemic levels, recorded at 12.1 per cent in 2025 among Ontario adults.
- Pandemic-Era effects and recent alcohol-policy changes helped frame the findings, as Premier Doug Ford's government permitted convenience-store alcohol sales in September 2024, and CAMH said 2025 data cannot yet fully capture that change's impact.
- The long-running Monitor, now in its 49th year, used an online web-panel of 3,012 Ontario adults between February and March of last year and found 10 per cent bought alcohol from grocery stores and six per cent from convenience stores.
- Dr. Leslie Buckley warned high-risk drinkers remain at pandemic-era levels, posing immediate concern, and said alcohol remains one of Canada's leading preventable causes of death due to accessibility.
- With service access difficult, psychologist Taslim Alani-Vergee said accessing care is `tricky` and urged more public funding plus integration of supports into workplaces and communities as anti-anxiety medication use among women rose to 26.5 per cent last year.
Insights by Ground AI
9 Articles
9 Articles
burlingtontoday.com+2 Reposted by 2 other sources
Alcohol dependence still high 5 years after pandemic: CAMH report
'Alcohol remains one of the leading preventable causes of death in Canada, in large part due to its accessibility and potential for dependence,' says a doctor at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
Global NewsReposted by 
dailyguardian.ca
dailyguardian.caPoor mental health, harmful alcohol use persists post-pandemic: report
A new report shows that even though the COVID-19 pandemic ended several years ago, the increase in issues around mental health and substance use still continue.
·Toronto, Canada
Read Full Article
Coverage Details
Total News Sources9
Leaning Left7Leaning Right0Center1Last UpdatedBias Distribution88% Left
Bias Distribution
- 88% of the sources lean Left
88% Left
L 88%
12%
Factuality
To view factuality data please Upgrade to Premium
