FRIDAY, March 5, 2021 (HealthDay News) – Illicit drug seizures fell sharply in the US during the early COVID-19 lockdown, but rose as stay-at-home orders faded.
The researchers examined seizures of marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin and fentanyl in five locations between March 2019 (one year before the pandemic started in the US) to September 2020, six months after the pandemic started.
During that time, police officers in Washington / Baltimore, Chicago, Ohio, New Mexico, and North Florida made more than 29,500 drug seizures.
Seizures – particularly those from marijuana and methamphetamine – fell sharply in March and April 2020 when home stay orders went into effect nationwide.
After rocketing drug seizures in April, they spiked the rest of the spring and summer as lockdowns eased and peaked in August.
After April, the weight of seized drugs increased significantly due to an increase in marijuana attacks.
The peak levels of marijuana and methamphetamine seizures in August 2020 were higher than last year, but the researchers said it was not clear whether this was because the drugs were more readily available or whether law enforcement officers were “catching up” after several months of late seizures . The research was conducted under the US National Drug Early Warning System (NDEWS).
“While seizure data is not the most robust indicator of drug use prevalence, it does serve as an indicator of drug supply and availability,” study leader Joseph Palamar said in a New York University press release. He is chair of the NDEWS Scientific Advisory Group and Associate Professor of Population Health at NYU School of Medicine.
Palamar found that fewer seizures or smaller quantities of drugs seized may reflect a disruption in supply chains.
The researchers found no significant changes in attacks from cocaine, heroin, or fentanyl in the first few months of the pandemic, but the attacks from fentanyl increased slowly over two years regardless of the pandemic.
“Future research should balance seizure data with other studies of drug use, availability and overdose to get the most accurate picture of drug use trends during the pandemic,” said study co-author Linda Cottler, an epidemiologist at the University of Florida.
The results were published in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence on March 2.
More information
The US National Institute on Drug Abuse explains substance abuse and drug addiction.
Source: New York University, press release, March 2, 2021
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