[user104658]

It was badly mishandled at the beginning of Covid, they were deploying addictions nurses to wards leaving people stuck in lock-down with absolutely no support network, but the decisions were actually being made at NHS Trust level not by the government - the government actually stepped in and put a stop to that madness when they realised it was happening. Sadly too late for many whose substance abuse had worsened.

Of course it can't be put down entirely to Covid times but isolation/lock-downs have been an absolute disaster in terms of addictions. Worsening for people who were already addicts, and plenty of people who had no problematic substance use pre-covid sitting getting drunk every night on furlough and then finding themselves a year down the line with an alcohol dependancy.

I don't think we'll ever know the full "true" impact of Covid. Deliberate overdoses/suicides way up too.