Cheers to COVID? America was drinking more throughout 2020 and Michigan beat the national average. Should we be proud or embarrassed? 

Do we need a 12 Step program or just another 12 oz. beer? We know the Coronavirus disrupted much of our lives for most of 2020 and Americans seem to have tried to cope by drinking more. Michigan ranks in the Top 10 of states that drank the most.

American Addiction Centers surveyed 3,584 drinkers in January 2021 about their habits and 1 in 4 admit they drank more during lockdown. The national average was 17 drinks per week. (A drink is defined as a 12 ounces of (5%) beer, 7 ounces of wine, or 1.5 ounces of 80 proof liquor.) We in Michigan topped that by consuming 956 drinks throughout the year, averaging out to 18 a week.

While only one extra drink per week may not seem like a big deal, the CDC defines heavy drinking as: more than 14 drinks per week over the course of a year for men, and more than 7 drinks per week for women. Want more sobering news? Binge drinking is defined as knocking back 5 or more drinks on a single occasion for a man, 4 or more at a single sitting for a woman.

Broken down across the country, it appears that Alaskans consumed the most with an average of 27 drinks per week during lockdown. Comparatively, residents in Hawaii and New Hampshire had just 10 drinks per week – the lowest figure across the US.

States Dinking the Most During COVID | Number of standard drinks/year

  1. Alaska | 1404
  2. Rhode Island | 1261
  3. New Jersey | 1130
  4. Oklahoma | 1106
  5. Arkansas | 1076
  6. Illinois | 1050
  7. Wisconsin | 1025
  8. Montana | 1023
  9. Vermont | 1014
  10. Michigan | 956

American Addiction Centers/ DrugAbuse.com Conducted this research and offers help, or you can get in touch with Alcoholics Anonymous if you think you may have a problem. "Step One: Admitted we were powerless over alcohol- that our lives had become unmanageable."

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