The COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns caused seismic shifts in behavior, especially in the day-to-day lives of adolescents, including illicit drug consumption. A new survey reported significant decreases in use among young people across many substances in 2021, including those most commonly used in adolescence—alcohol, marijuana, and vaped nicotine. It's the largest one-year decrease in overall illicit drug use since the Monitoring the Future survey began in 1975. The decrease in vaping for both marijuana and tobacco follows sharp increases in use between 2017 and 2019, which then leveled off in 2020. Contributing factors behind the reduced consumption are likely to include drug availability, family involvement and monitoring, and differences in peer pressure under the long lockdown environment.
Meanwhile, although New York State legalized recreational marijuana earlier this year, commercial operations are now not likely to start until late 2022 or even in 2023, due to the long lag time between the passage of the legislation and implementation. First, more than 1,500 municipalities have until the end of 2021 to whether to opt-out of allowing cannabis dispensaries and on-site consumption lounges and then the new Cannabis Control Board must overcome bureaucratic delays and issue licenses, of which half must be given to social and economic equity applicants. The law stipulates that 40 percent of tax revenue must go to communities disproportionately harmed by the war on drugs, although other states have had difficulties applying this provision.
And finally, an opinion piece in the New York Times makes a strong case for supporting the proposed Medicaid Re-entry Act, which would make it easier for formerly incarcerated people to get the help they need—including drug treatment—to re-enter society. The article notes that overdose is one of the leading causes of death for this population group, with higher rates within the first two weeks after release. While effective treatment is almost impossible to get behind bars, returning to the community without a support system can be equally difficult, because people suddenly find themselves without the counseling and drugs they need to survive. If enacted, the bill before Congress would significantly help those leaving imprisonment who are the most susceptible to overdose.