A post-pandemic reset: Reversing the COVID-19 increase in substance use by adolescents and young adults

The use and misuse of drugs and alcohol can have serious impacts on health and mortality. Globally, around half a million people died from drug use in 2019, and 18 million years of health life was lost to drug use, mostly opioids (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2021). Further compounding these rates is the entry of new psychoactive substances into the illicit drug market, with many new drugs having unpredictable effects that are not yet well understood. Meanwhile, harmful use of alcohol creates 3 million deaths annually and accounts for over 5% of all deaths (World Health Organization, 2022). In 2018, approximately 2.4 million adolescents consumed alcohol for the first time (Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration, 2019). Harmful levels of alcohol consumption tend to cause death and disability earlier in life, with 13.5% of deaths amongst 20–39-year-olds linked to alcohol (World Health Organization, 2022).