A recent article published by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) discussed results from Canada’s longest-running mental health and substance use survey, which showed sustained levels of mental distress and alcohol dependence in Ontario. The 2025 CAMH Monitor report is Canada’s longest-running population survey on adult substance use and mental health, which has been carried out for 49 years. The survey results help researchers to identify new trends related to substance use, mental health, physical health, and overall wellbeing of Ontario residents.
Specifically, the 2025 CAMH Monitor used an online web-panel survey of 3,012 Ontario adults aged 18 years and older, who were asked about specific health behaviours and issues, including smoking, drinking, drug use, mental health, physical health, driving-related behaviours, and their opinions and attitudes pertaining to them.
It was found that binge drinking (defined as consuming five or more drinks on a single occasion) remains stable compared to pandemic levels (11.3% of respondents in 2020, and 9.6% in 2025). More concerning, symptoms of alcohol dependence were reported at higher-than-pre-pandemic levels, rising from 7.4% in 2019 to 13.9% in 2020 and remaining elevated at 12.1% in 2025.
Moreover, the results showed that key mental and physical health indicators have not returned to pre-pandemic levels, with several measures worsening over the past five years. The proportion of adults reporting fair or poor mental health increased from 26.2% in 2020 to 29.0% in 2025, frequent mental distress rose from 16.8% to 18.7%, and fair or poor overall health increased from 16.3% to 20.8% over the same period.
Several mental health trends varied by demographic group, with anti-anxiety medication use among women increasing from 22.3% in 2020 to 26.5% in 2025, and antidepressant use among adults aged 65 years and older rising from 10.8% to 16.3%. Among men, self-reported mental health worsened despite stable clinical screening results, with fair or poor self-rated mental health increasing from 20.8% to 25.0% and frequent mental distress rising from 12.3% to 16.3% between 2020 and 2025.
In addition, it was found that alcohol purchasing patterns in Ontario have shifted toward greater access, with purchases from beer stores declining from 25% in 2016 to 12.3% in 2025, while 10% of drinkers reported buying alcohol from grocery stores and 6% from convenience stores, though the full impact of recent legislative changes allowing convenience store sales remains unclear. Despite increased accessibility, self-reported cannabis use in 2025 remained comparable to 2020 levels, indicating no further rise during the pandemic and post-pandemic period, although prevalence is nearly double that observed before 2013.
“Taken together, the 2025 CAMH Monitor findings show that many of the pandemic’s impacts on mental health and substance use have not resolved — and in some cases have worsened — over the past five years,” concluded the article.
