More people taking drugs for anxiety and insomnia, and doctors are worried

The WSJ had an article discussing the uptick in prescriptions for anti-anxiety, anti-depression, and sleep-aid drugs in the USA relative to this time last year, and relative to January and February 2020. The various data reports anywhere from 10% to 86% increase. This does not count increasing dosages or illegally obtained drugs.

This to be expected given the high stress everyone is under during the pandemic, but something to keep an eye on, as many of these medicines could be effective in the short term but could also lead to tolerance and dependence and lead to longer-term drug addiction problems. Something to keep an eye on in society over the rest of this year, and hopefully efforts are taken to become aware and mitigate this problem.