Historically seen as the standard of care for alcohol treatment and substance abuse disorders in general, 12-step programs are extremely limited. Only in recent years have those limitations been examined.
Evidence suggesting that Americans would turn to alcohol for stress relief relating to the global COVID-19 pandemic emerged early in the crisis, with Nielsen reporting a 54 percent increase in national alcohol sales during the third week of March, when governments started initiating stay-at-home and related measures.
While few young Americans probably know that former First Lady Nancy Reagan coined the “Just Say No” slogan used to encourage youth to refrain from engaging in illegal recreational drug use, some may be taking the slogan to heart.