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Stoned age: COVID-19 pandemic fuels surge in cannabis use as shuttered nightclubs force revelers to cut down on 'party drugs' like cocaine, ecstasy, and LSD

Recreational narcotics users have ditched ‘party drugs’ like cocaine, ecstasy, and LSD in favor of marijuana as the pandemic shut down nightclubs while forcing people to isolate at home, a new study has found.

Researchers at New York University’s Langone Health Center surveyed 128 adults in New York City to see how this past spring’s lockdown affected the local party scene.

Their findings were published in the December edition of the journal Substance Use & Misuse.

According to the study, 78.6 per cent of those surveyed reported using less cocaine; 71.1 per cent said they cut down on their use of ecstasy (also known as MDMA); and 68 per cent said they were consuming less LSD.

The study also found that of those who still use cocaine, 66.7 per cent reported using less of it while just 29 per cent of marijuana users said they were consuming less of the drug.

Less than half of all ecstasy users - 44. 7 per cent - said they were taking less of the drug while 48 per cent of LSD users said the same.

Researchers at New York University surveyed New York City clubgoers who reported using more marijuana while cutting down on recreational 'party drugs' like cocaine, ecstasy, and LSD

Researchers at New York University surveyed New York City clubgoers who reported using more marijuana while cutting down on recreational 'party drugs' like cocaine, ecstasy, and LSD

Party drug users have instead migrated to marijuana. The study found that 35 per cent reported consuming more weed while 33 per cent said they were using the same amount as before the lockdown.

Just 32 per cent said they were using less marijuana.

The study is echoing other research done worldwide which also found greater use of cannabis during the coronavirus lockdown.

This past fall, the Global Drug Survey conducted an online poll between May and June in which they asked more than 55,000 people from around the world about their consumption habits.

The respondents, which included residents from the United Kingdom, Australia, and the United States, said they were using more cannabis during the lockdown.

The second most popular drug during the initial stages of the lockdown were prescription benzodiazepines, also known as tranquilizers which include brand names like Xanax, Valium, Klonopin, and Librium.

Researchers believe the intense anxiety caused by the shutdown may have fueled people’s preference for the drug.

A recent survey conducted by the California cannabis brand Goldenseed found that more than 73 per cent of American adults said that stress and anxiety were the main reason for turning to weed.

In states where the sale of cannabis is legal, the industry has been booming during the pandemic.

The analytics firm BDSA published a market forecast in September which found that global cannabis sales for 2020 were estimated to have reached $19.7billion - an increase of 38 per cent over 2019 sales of $14.8billion.

‘While the 2020 forecast is down less than 1 per cent from the forecast released earlier this year, cannabis sales YTD have swung wildly in different states as a result of COVID-19,’ said Roy Bingham, the co-Founder and executive chairman of BDSA.

‘Sales in many U.S. markets performed stronger than expected, resulting in upward forecast revisions for Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Oregon, while sales in Nevada dropped significantly and are struggling to recover.

‘Nevada’s dependency on tourism, coupled with mandated delivery for the adult-use channel were largely responsible for Nevada’s performance.’

The NYU researchers attributed the increased reliance on cannabis to its greater availability.

This past fall, a global survey of more than 55,000 people in the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom found an increased use of cannabis during the coronavirus lockdown

This past fall, a global survey of more than 55,000 people in the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom found an increased use of cannabis during the coronavirus lockdown

Party drugs are often obtained in clubs from friends or acquaintances, so when the lockdown went into effect anyone looking for cocaine, MDMA, or LSD would have to find alternate modes of supply.

Getting weed isn’t nearly as complicated. Even in states where it is not yet legal to sell recreational marijuana, there is a thriving black market.

As of this writing, it is legal to buy marijuana for recreational or medicinal purposes in 20 states, including the District of Columbia.

States that imposed severe lockdown measures on the economy allowed cannabis dispensaries to keep operating as they were deemed ‘essential businesses.’

The lockdown has had an adverse impact on all industries, and the illegal narcotics trade is no different.

Along the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border through which the vast majority of illegal drugs cross, the normally bustling vehicle traffic that smugglers use for cover has slowed to a trickle.

Bars, nightclubs and motels across the country that are ordinarily fertile marketplaces for drug dealers have shuttered.

And prices for drugs in short supply have soared to gouging levels.

‘They are facing a supply problem and a demand problem,’ said Alejandro Hope, a security analyst and former official with CISEN, the Mexican intelligence agency.

‘Once you get them to the market, who are you going to sell to?’

Virtually every illicit drug has been impacted, with supply chain disruptions at both the wholesale and retail level.

Traffickers are stockpiling narcotics and cash along the border, and the US Drug Enforcement Administration even reports a decrease in money laundering and online drug sales on the so-called dark web.

Cocaine prices are up 20 percent or more in some cities.

Heroin has become harder to find in Denver and Chicago, while supplies of fentanyl are falling in Houston and Philadelphia.

In Los Angeles, the price of methamphetamine has more than doubled in recent weeks to $1,800 per pound.

Synthetic drugs such as methamphetamine and fentanyl have been among the most affected, in large part because they rely on precursor chemicals that Mexican cartels import from China, cook into drugs on an industrial scale and then ship to the US.

Other experts who have seen the NYU study said it does not prove that the increased use of cannabis was the result of less use of the party drugs.

The above image is a stock photograph of packaged doses of cannabis, cocaine, and heroin. The lockdown and the sealed border between the United States and Mexico have severely hampered the illegal narcotics trade

The above image is a stock photograph of packaged doses of cannabis, cocaine, and heroin. The lockdown and the sealed border between the United States and Mexico have severely hampered the illegal narcotics trade 

‘I cannot conclude from this study that an increase in cannabis use contributed to or was caused by the decrease in the use of other substances,’ Dr. Patricia Frye, who heads the Takoma Park Integrative Care, a medical-cannabis centric wellness clinic in Maryland, told the Observer.

Instead, Frye says that cannabis was simply the more appropriate drug for use for those spending more time at home as well as those experiencing more lockdown-induced stress.

‘Cannabis is the substance of choice when at home and that during social distancing people were at home more,’ she said.

‘And/or, cannabis use increased to treat anxiety, depression, and/or stress which escalated during the pandemic.’  

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