The stress, isolation, and lack of human connection have caused a spike in drug overdoses and addiction
RICHMOND, Va.—Jerry Barton lost everyone around him to opioids. First, he lost his sister. Then, his girlfriend. Later, he lost a close friend from suicide stemming from addiction. And, in February, he found his childhood best friend dead from an opioid overdose.
Before the pandemic and the lockdowns hit, Barton had been 21 months clean from drugs. But the isolation, stress, and lack of human connection took a toll on him.
“It was depressing,” Barton told The Epoch Times inside a recovery home provided by The McShin Foundation, a nonprofit recovery community organization in Virginia. “It bothered me a lot—it actually led to my relapse.”
There were no in-person groups for emotional support. Barton took part in some online meetings, but they had a lackluster atmosphere—he hid his true self. Being alone amid the lockdown, he thought he could get away with a one-time hit.
That soon led to him using heroin, crack, and cocaine. Toward the end of the relapse, Barton was experimenting with meth and acid.
Numerous studies have revealed a spike in drug overdoses this past year. After March 19, 2020, almost 62 percent of participating counties experienced an increase in overdose submissions, according to ODMAP, a tracker that provides real-time suspected overdose data.
Looking closer, there was an 18 percent increase in suspected overdose submissions when comparing the weeks before and after the implementation of state-mandated stay-at-home orders. Regina LaBelle, acting director of National Drug Control Policy, pointed out that illicitly manufactured synthetic drugs were responsible for more overdose deaths last year than any other substance.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that over 81,000 drug overdose deaths occurred in the United States in the 12 months ending in May 2020, “the highest number of overdose deaths ever recorded in a 12-month period,” according to provisional data released in December 2020. Then-CDC Director Robert Redfield said at the time the pandemic “has hit those with substance use disorder hard.”
John Shinholser, president and co-founder of The McShin Recovery Resource Foundation, who says he’s been in long-term recovery since 1982, said he saw “an explosion” of addicts who relapsed due to the lockdowns.
“Stress goes on steroids during COVID,” he said.
BY BOWEN XIAO
