‘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
Harmful drinking behaviours, including a dependence on alcohol, remain high five years after the COVID-19 pandemic, a new report has found.
In the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health’s (CAMH) 2025 Monitor report, the hospital said symptoms of alcohol dependence continue to be reported higher than pre-pandemic levels.
While the overall percentage of adults using alcohol in the past year declined since before the pandemic, reported symptoms of dependence on the substance increased from 7.4 per cent in 2019 to 13.9 per cent in 2020, and have remained at elevated levels of 12.1 per cent in 2025.
“Those at a high risk of harm from alcohol continue to drink at record high pandemic levels,” said Dr. Leslie Buckley of the CAMH Chief of Addictions Division in a statement.
“Alcohol remains one of the leading preventable causes of death in Canada, in large part due to its accessibility and potential for dependence,” Buckley added.
The Monitor report, which has been ongoing for 49 years, is a population survey looking into adult substance abuse and mental health trends. The 2025 edition was conducted using an online web-panel survey of 3,012 adults in Ontario, aged 18 or older.
In the report, which was released on Monday, CAMH compiled results about several health issues and behaviours, including drinking, smoking, drug use, mental health and more. It found that the purchasing patterns of alcohol have shifted in Ontario as access to the substance has increased.
Across the province, CAMH said that purchases from traditional beer stores have significantly decreased, while 10 per cent of current drinkers reported buying alcohol from grocery stores in the past 30 days, and six per cent from convenience stores.
“Increasing availability raises concern about further harm to this higher-risk population,” Buckley said.
Premier Doug Ford’s government permitted alcohol sales in convenience stores in September 2024, and due to the policy’s recency, CAMH said the 2025 data cannot fully capture the new legislation’s impact.
The report also said that key mental and physical health indicators in Ontario have not recovered from pandemic levels, and in some cases, have worsened.
The survey found an increase in adults self-rating their mental health ‘fair’ or ‘poor,’ with 26.2 per cent reporting the same in 2020, compared to 29 per cent in 2025.
Frequent mental distress has also increased, CAMH said, with anti-anxiety medication use among women increasing from 22.3 per cent in 2020 to 26.5 per cent last year.
The report found that self-reported mental health among men has worsened as well, despite there being no increase in clinically screened poor mental health among the population. The amount of men rating ‘fair’ or ‘poor’ mental health increased from 20.8 per cent in 2020 to 25 per cent in 2025.