Five years after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, harmful patterns of alcohol use and poor mental health remain widespread in Ontario, according to new data released by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH).
The findings arrive as Waterloo Regional Police report a sharp rise in impaired driving incidents, highlighting how province-wide trends can intersect with local public safety concerns.
The data come from the 2025 CAMH Monitor, one of Canada’s longest-running population surveys tracking substance use and mental health among adults. The program has collected repeated cross-sectional survey data since 1977, targeting non-institutionalized Ontarians aged 18 and older.
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