Ivan Ezquerra-Romano: How student drug-taking reached new highs (and lows) in lockdown

But that month the government ordered new coronavirus restrictions and in November imposed another lockdown. For Fran, then 18, and her fresher friends this meant being confined to their halls, social distancing and eating meals at their desks. There was nowhere to go — no face-to-face tutorials, no bars or nightclubs, no sports matches.

It was hard to make friends and find the wild freedom she had hoped for. Drinking and doing drugs indoors became a form of escapism. And with lectures taking place online, she didn’t even have to get out of bed.

“It was quite depressing,” she says, “because sometimes I’d wake up hungover

Original article published in Sunday Times