Review The International Journal of Indian Psychology ISSN 2348-5396 (Online) | ISSN: 2349-3429 (Print) Volume 8, Issue 3, July- Sep, 2020 DIP: 18.01.002/20200803, DOI: 10.25215/0803.002 http://www.ijip.in © 2020, M Mathew; licensee IJIP. This is an Open Access Research distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any Medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Lockdown stress amid COVID-19 on Alcoholics and Drug addicts Madona Mathew 1 * ABSTRACT Alcohol consumption within the COVID-19 time may be a stress reliever. Loneliness and social distancing results in the increased use of alcohol. Alcohol consumption for endless period during the isolation has created new cases of disorders associated with alcohol use. Especially the increased risk of infection and deteriorating symptoms. Citizens should be properly trained about alcohol-related problems during this emergency period. The Coronavirus Disease pandemic has undoubtedly had a serious impact on the supply of physical healthcare worldwide. The psychological state impact of this pandemic can't be underestimated, particularly of patients affected by addiction. Heightened public stress and anxiety levels, increasing isolation and therefore the physical consequences of addiction play an outsized role within the proliferation and ongoing relapse of substance misuse and behavioural addiction. Keywords: Addiction, Drugs, Covid-19, Alcoholic, Stress Soon after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the 21-day lockdown last week to contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, many wondered, perhaps in a jocular vein, how smokers, alcoholics or people addicted to drugs would cope with new regimen. According to some media reports, by March 30, Kerala had registered eight cases of suicide by individuals, who failed to cope with alcohol withdrawal. The official death toll from the coronavirus infection in Kerala, so far, stands at two. Perhaps wary of having to deal with an epidemic of alcohol addiction-related suicides while the state continues to battle the Covid- 19 pandemic, the Pinarayi Vijayan government allowed people unable to cope with withdrawal to purchase liquor from government-notified vends if a doctor prescribed the amber stuff to them. The Kerala government’s decision has been met with stiff resi stance from state’s Indian Medical Association (IMA) chapter which wrote to the CM stating “alcohol withdrawal can be managed successfully using medications” and that “asking doctors to recommend alcohol as treatment of alcohol withdrawal would be sending a wrong message to the public”. Nonetheless, the Meghalaya government, too, followed Kerala’s lead, allowing alcohol to be sold to people who came armed with a doctor’s prescription. As India enters into the second week of the lockdown, and amid uncertainty over whether this quarantine would end on April 15 or be extended, addiction psychiatrists believe the 1 Student, M.Sc. Forensic Science, Raksha Shakti University, Gujarat, India *Responding Author Received: June 13, 2020; Revision Received: June 22, 2020; Accepted: September 25, 2020