BOTTLING UP

The National Council on Drug Abuse (NCDA) may not be prepared to call it, but researchers at the Northern Caribbean University (NCU) are standing behind a study that suggests alcoholism is on the rise locally and that the pressures of COVID-19 are the main variables.

Not only are more Jamaicans turning to the bottle, explained head of institution research at NCU, Paul Bourne, but more youngsters have been indulging in unhealthy drinking practices in response to various restrictions and subsequent depression caused by the pandemic.

The web-based study was conducted between May 31 and June 21 this year and features data collected from 500 participants, both males and females from all three counties. Data was also collected from interactions with participants in communities and towns, and it has a five per cent margin of error, Bourne explained last week.

“The substantial finding that shocked all of us is that almost 50 per cent of Jamaicans say that they have increased consumption of alcohol, and when we asked them whether this was a result of COVID, 44 per cent of Jamaicans said, ‘Listen, man. COVID is why I’ve been drinking more’,” he told The Sunday Gleaner.

“And let’s go further, 42 per cent of persons indicated that they are drinking four times more per week. Those persons who we see the rise in drinking among the sample that we used were in the 18-35 years (group), which is a young people phenomenon. Now that indicates trouble,” stressed an alarmed Bourne.

According to the probe, 15.7 per cent, or 78 respondents, said they were driven to consume alcohol because of isolation from family; 28.2 per cent (140) said they were driven to alcohol due to financial instability; 15.5 per cent said they drank more because they worry they would catch the disease; 40.6 per cent, or 202 responders, said they were drinking more alcohol, but not for any of the reasons listed by the researchers.

In the interim, studies by the Statistic Institute of Jamaica (STATIN) indicated that after the first six months of the COVID-19 pandemic, unemployment went up by five per cent, decimating the benefits of two International Monetary Fund programmes and a burgeoning business process outsourcing (BPO) sector, researchers have argued. The BPO sector, which employs more than 40,000 Jamaicans, was among the hardest hit with virus infections.

“It automatically means that whatever is happening to the young people, they are unable to deal with these problems, especially those that COVID-19 has been presenting them. The young people are not coping at all, and that are the findings being presented,” said the academician. “If it means you are consuming alcohol four times [more] a week, it means you are consuming it every day, and that indicates deeper psychological problems going on with young people.”

The study did not capture the types of alcoholic beverages being had in Jamaica, a probe that may be done later this year, said Bourne.

But bartenders interviewed over the last two weeks indicated a growing preference for “specials” – a mixture of rum containing 63 per cent alcohol and energy drink. These are usually sold for cheaper than bottled beverages.

The study, titled ‘Impact of alcohol consumption on the psychological well-being of Jamaicans during the COVID-19 pandemic’, was in keeping with research done in the United States by The Harris Poll, which indicated nearly one in every five Americans has been consuming an unhealthy amount of alcohol over the past 18 months. Thousands reported heavy drinking – defined as having two drinks a day in a single week – at least twice in 30 days.

While noting indications from a 2020 NCDA online study that predicted an increase in alcohol and drug use, NCDA research analyst Uki Atkinson cautioned about the efficacy and generalisations from such probes due to the inaccessibility of some to the Internet, especially in rural areas, where the problem may be rife.

That 2020 study canvassed 800 people, but mostly tertiary students and persons who had been exposed to drug and alcohol use before. She noted that the restrictions on face-to-face contact in academic institutions due to the pandemic has slowed research in the area this year.

Nonetheless, calls to the state entity had increased exponentially, with 361 calls to the council in the first six months of the pandemic. This is far more than any other year since 2013. More males called the helpline than females and most are in the 18-29 age group.

Bourne, however, stood firmly behind his findings last week.

“This study is extremely accurate. In fact, we only have a margin of error of five per cent. This means we are 95 per cent sure that our values are correct,” he said, listing some advantages of online studies. Every parish was represented among the participants of the study.

“Research is meant to provide information to people, and now that Jamaica knows what is happening to persons, what we ought to do now is to shift some of the resources to meet the challenges. If it means that more young Jamaicans are experiencing this increase, it means that more are going to get themselves into sexual problems, violence problems, and end up in prisons or in the hospitals,” he argued.

corey.robinson@gleanerjm.com