Substance Use Trends Across Canadian Jurisdictions, 2008–2024:
The Prevalence Interactive Chart

To produce new and reliable prevalence estimates of substance use trends across Canada, we combined self-reported survey data from national and regional health surveys (refer to the table), including individuals who reported having used a given substance for different frequencies within the past 12 months, regardless of whether the use was medical or non-medical (with broader criteria for some substances, including alcohol and tobacco; refer to the glossary for details). For more information about the methodology, please contact the CSUCH team.

For alcohol, the most used substance, we were able to estimate the average number of drinks consumed per day and the prevalence of binge drinking. For both alcohol and tobacco, we also estimated the percentage of the population who reported using these substances during their lifetime but not in the past 12 months.

Despite these surveys offering valuable information, they often have limitations such as missing years, underrepresented subgroups or suppressed data for smaller provinces or age groups.

To counter these limitations and produce statistically reliable estimates with reduced variance and broader coverage, we used a statistical modelling approach that incorporates:

• Self-reported prevalence data from surveys like the:
  • Canadian Alcohol and Drug Use Monitoring Survey (CADUMS) (Health Canada, 2013),
  • Canadian Tobacco, Alcohol and Drugs Survey (CTADS) (Health Canada, 2018),
  • Canadian Alcohol and Drugs Survey (CADS) (Statistics Canada, 2021),
  • Canadian Substance Use Survey (CSUS) (Health Canada, 2025),
  • Canadian Tobacco and Nicotine Survey (CTNS) (Health Canada, 2023),
  • Canadian Cannabis Survey (CCS) (Health Canada, 2024a), and
  • Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) (Statistics Canada, 2023).
  • Northwest Territories Substance Use and Addictions Survey 2018, 2023 (Northwest Territories Health and Social Services, 2024).
• Sales data for alcohol and tobacco to support estimates, where self-reporting may underestimate use (Statistics Canada, 2025a; Statistics Canada, 2025b).
• Hospitalization and health administrative records from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI, 2025), including inpatient hospitalizations whoSlly attributable to alcohol and other drugs.
• Police seizure data from Health Canada’s Drug Analysis Service (DAS) (Statistics Canada, 2024b).
• Demographic and income data by jurisdiction and year (Statistics Canada, 2025c).

For example, to estimate cocaine use among men aged 35–64 in Ontario in 2020, we modelled survey data from surrounding years and regions alongside hospitalization and drug seizure records. This enabled us to fill data gaps and reduce uncertainty while collecting broader national trends over time.