Many people are starting 2026 off by marking Dry January and swearing off alcohol for the first month of the year. But new research is raising concerns about how much Canadians are drinking.
Overall alcohol consumption has dropped over the long term, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) said in a new report, but it also noted that adults who consume alcohol are drinking higher quantities of it — more than they did before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Although the CAMH report released Monday suggests the impacts of the pandemic, and the lockdowns and public health measures imposed during those first years, have continued when it comes to alcohol use.
“It’s not surprising that something that has such a significant impact on our interpersonal relations would would have that effect,” said Dr. Leslie Buckley, a psychiatrist and chief of the Addictions Division at CAMH.
Even though it’s been a few years since social restrictions were in place, Buckley says she’d like to see fewer people drinking at a level associated with both physical and mental harm. But she and other experts believe that could be a challenge because alcohol is so easily accessible.
Who is drinking more — and how much?
Most adults in this country drink, according to Statistics Canada. Recently, the CAMH Monitor eReport on substance use, mental health and well-being surveyed more than 3,000 adults in Ontario.
Some experts suggest the findings of the report raise concerns about how much Canadians are drinking.
It estimates about 76 per cent of adults who are of legal drinking age have consumed at least one alcoholic beverage in the previous 12 months.
Of those, about 22 per cent say they drink at least once a month.
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But it’s the habits of people who drink weekly and daily that stand out.
The report found a three per cent rise in daily drinking in 2025 compared to 2019, just before the virus that causes COVID-19 began spreading around the globe leading to worldwide lockdowns in early 2020.
Binge drinking, which CAMH defines as having five or more drinks on a single occasion at least once per week, is even higher — up 3.6 per cent compared to before the pandemic.
But there was a gender divide in these habits.
Men were more likely to drink daily than women, according to the survey. Some 9.8 per cent of men surveyed in Ontario said they had an alcoholic drink each day, compared to 5.6 per cent of women.
When it came to binge drinking, 13.7 per cent of men surveyed said they engaged in that behaviour at least once a week. Less than half that number of women (5.8 per cent) said they did the same.
More drinks, more health risks
Health Canada lists a number of physical heath consequences associated with frequent drinking that can include reduced resistance to infection, increased risk for several types of cancers, heart disease, as well as damage to organs — especially the liver.
But booze also “does a real hatchet job on our mental health,” said Dr. Evan Wood, a professor of University of British Columbia who specializes in addiction medicine.
That includes increasing rates of depression and anxiety, he says, which can, in turn, lead to more severe consequences such as self harm.
A study published in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology shows that rates of serious liver scarring more than doubled over the last 20 years among heavy drinkers as the demographics of drinkers shift to include older adults and women.
How much is too much?
In order to avoid such health risks, the Canadian Centre for Substance Use and Addiction’s 2023 guidelines suggest that consuming no more than one or two standard drinks per week can help people avoid serious alcohol-related health consequences.
Meanwhile, Health Canada’s federal guidelines advise that women drink no more than two standard drinks per day, up to 10 per week. For men, that increases to no more than three drinks per day and up to 15 per week.
Health Canada considers the above guidance low-risk drinking and defines a standard drink as the equivalent of 341 ml (12 oz.) bottle of beer or cider that’s five per cent alcohol, a 142 ml (five oz.) glass of wine or 43 ml (1.5 oz.) of hard liquor.
But those standards don’t necessarily reflect what people are actually consuming when they pick up an alcoholic beverage at the store.
Many types of wine and beer contain higher alcohol content than what is considered standard. Canned pre-mixed cocktails, for example, can be deceiving.
Many types of wine and beer contain higher alcohol content than what is considered standard, and some pre-mixed cocktails from brands like Cutwater, Dillon’s, Founder’s and more are sold with an alcohol percentage of 12.5 per cent listed on the packaging, packing a far bigger punch than a standard beer.
Wood is also concerned that many provinces across the country have made alcohol more convenient to buy.
“Making alcohol more available,” he said, “results in higher levels of alcohol use, which in turn results in higher levels of alcohol use disorder.”
He said selling it in grocery stores, for example, will have “predictable consequences in terms of rates of alcohol problems, whether that be … motor vehicle accidents or developments of alcohol use disorder and those types of harms.”
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A positive drinking trend
There has been an overall shift away from drinking alcohol, not just since the pandemic, but over almost 50 years of CAMH reporting.
The number of people who told CAMH they’ve consumed alcohol in the past 12 months dropped to 76.2 per cent in 2025 after rising to 80.4 per cent during the first years of the pandemic, between 2020 and 2022.
That’s the lowest percentage since 1977 when CAMH first began collecting data on the drinking habits.
CAMH’s Buckley would like to see the downward trend continue, something she said could be achieved through people to rethink using alcohol as a means of socializing or managing stress.
She encourages people to get more physical activity to help with their mental health and, when it comes to having a good time, taking part in activities where there’s no need to grab a drink — whether that means going for a walk, having a games night or going to a movie.
As many British Columbians take a break from booze in January, writer and producer Jordan Kawchuk — who wrote a widely read essay on his journey with alcohol use — gives his thoughts on whether a month-long pause actually makes a difference.
