April 6, 2022

In recognition of Alcohol Awareness Month, American Addiction Centers, a leading provider of substance use treatment, will be hosting a discussion series called Sober Thursdays: An AAC Chat throughout the month of April. Each Thursday, beginning April 7, a panel of treatment experts and frontline workers – many of whom are in recovery – will address some of the most common questions asked about alcohol use, alcohol abuse and alcohol addiction. All episodes will air live on Facebook and LinkedIn at 2:00 p.m. EDT.

Recent data has further illustrated the impact the pandemic has had on alcohol consumption nationwide. Deaths involving alcohol increased by nearly 26% from 2019 to 2020, the largest year-over-year increase in decades. In the first year of the pandemic, rates of alcohol use among all age groups increased with the largest increase seen in people aged 35 – 44. The second-largest increase in alcohol use was among those aged 25 – 34. In the end, more than 99,000 people died in 2020 from alcohol-related causes.

“Alcohol is the fourth-leading cause of preventable death in the country, and sometimes we forget that alcohol is responsible for more deaths each year than opioid overdoses,” said Chief Medical Officer Dr. Lawrence Weinstein. “We have yet to see the results of the significant uptick in alcohol consumption during the pandemic, but numbers suggest that there are many more people who now have a problematic relationship with alcohol or perhaps an undiagnosed alcohol use disorder. This year, for Alcohol Awareness Month, we hope that these discussions among people who have either treated addiction or once struggled themselves can help others identify any worrying signs that they or a loved one may be experiencing.”