@CCSA.CCDUS

@CCSAcanada • @CCDUScanada

Can Centre on Substance Use and Addiction / Centre

can sur les dépendances et l’usage de substances

www.ccsa.ca • www.ccdus.ca

Societal Impacts of Substance Use

ISSP-RCIScience Lecture Series

October 20th, 2020

About CCSA

• Vision: A healthier Canadian society where evidence

transforms approaches to substance use.

• Mission: To address issues of substance use in Canada by

providing national leadership and harnessing the power of

evidence to generate coordinated action.

• Value Proposition: Provide national leadership to address

substance use in Canada. A trusted counsel, we provide

guidance to decision makers by harnessing the power of

research, curating knowledge and bringing together diverse

perspectives.

• National non-profit organization with a pan-Canadian and

international role.

3www.ccsa.ca • www.ccdus.ca

This work is made possible through a financial

contribution from Health Canada.

The views expressed herein do not necessarily

represent the views of Health Canada.

This project benefited from a rich partnership with

the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research

(CISUR).

www.ccsa.ca • www.ccdus.ca 4

Acknowledgements

Project Background

More information at www.csuch.ca5

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Canadian Institute for Substance Use

Research (CISUR)

Tim Stockwell, PhD, Principal Investigator

Director, CISUR

Professor, University of Victoria

John Dorocicz, MASc

Scott MacDonald, PhD

Adam Sherk, PhD

Justin Sorge, MPH

Jinhui Zhao, PhD

Canadian Substance Use Costs and Harms Scientific Working

Group

Canadian Centre on Substance Use and

Addiction (CCSA)

Matthew Young, PhD, Principal Investigator

Senior Research and Policy Analyst, CCSA

Adjunct Professor, Carleton University

Emily Biggar, MPH

Chealsea DeMoor, MA

Jill Fairbank, MS

Pamela Kent, PhD

Sarah Konefel, PhD

Bridget Maloney-Hall, MPH

Project Background

www.ccsa.ca • www.ccdus.ca 7

Substance Categories

Eight substance categories are included:

www.ccsa.ca • www.ccdus.ca 8

Cost Categories

We assessed costs across the following categories:

Greatest Costs - Alcohol and Tobacco

Tobacco leads in number of deaths

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Tobacco leads in number of deaths

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Opioid costs mainly due to early death

www.ccsa.ca • www.ccdus.ca 12

Stimulant costs are increasing

www.ccsa.ca • www.ccdus.ca 13

Alcohol and Cocaine are responsible for the

greatest costs to the criminal justice system

www.ccsa.ca • www.ccdus.ca 14

In 2017 almost half of cannabis-related

crimes were a direct result of its illegality

• https://csuch.ca/explore-the-data/

www.ccsa.ca • www.ccdus.ca 15

Online data visualization tool

www.ccsa.ca • www.ccdus.ca

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https://www.ccsa.ca/ccendu

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CCENDU Bulletin

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The illegal drugs situation since

COVID-19

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• Access to virtual care and other treatment options

• Access to a more reliable and safer drug supply

– Health Canada exemption changes:

• Facilitate prescribing and providing controlled substances

• Allow adjustments to service operations (supervised consumption, drug checking, etc.) to allow for distancing

– B.C. interim clinical guidance on implementation

• Access to harm reduction services and tools

– Universal access to naloxone

– Ensure harm reduction services are deemed essential and have resources to comply with physical distancing guidelines

www.ccsa.ca • www.ccdus.ca 23

Possible Response Options

Contact Information

www.ccsa.ca • www.ccdus.ca 24

Matthew M. Young, Ph.D. Senior Research & Policy Analyst, Canadian Centre on

Substance Use and Addiction

Adjunct Research Professor,

Department of Psychology,

Carleton University, Ottawa, ON