Dr. Scott Macdonald
About Scott
Scott Macdonald is a professor emeritus in the School of Health Information Science and a scientist with the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research (formerly CARBC) at the University of Victoria, and was CISUR's Assistant Director of Research from 2005 to 2018. He previously worked as a scientist for 25 years at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, formerly the Addiction Research Foundation in Ontario. His educational background includes a PhD in epidemiology and biostatistics from the University of Western Ontario, a MA in criminology from the University of Toronto, and a BSc in psychology from the University of Victoria.
Dr. Macdonald has focused his career on research issues in the substance use and abuse field, with empirical studies in a variety of areas, such as the role of substance use in injuries, program evaluation, and marijuana and alcohol policy. He has been an expert witness in several cases related to drug testing in the workplace, and been a consultant with groups such as the International Labour Office, the World Health Organization and Transport Canada.
He recently published Cannabis Crashes: Myths and Truths, which examines whether Canada's new cannabis-impaired driving laws are rooted in solid science.
Projects
- Alcohol, energy drinks and other stimulants: An emergency room study assessing the effects of gender, context and substance use on injury risk
- Alcohol outlet privatization: The British Columbia experiment
- Assessing the impacts of cannabis legalization on traffic-related injuries among youth and adults in Alberta and Ontario
- Compulsory addiction treatment: toward evidence-based policy and practice
- Does minimum pricing reduce the burden of disease and illness attributable to alcohol?
- Evaluating the Impact of Minimum Pricing in Saskatchewan on Crime and Health Outcomes
- How much do people under-report their drinking in surveys, and by how much?
- Island Health alcohol and other drug treatment services
- Needs-based planning of substance use treatment services in British Columbia
- The economic costs of substance use in Canada (CSUCH)
- The impact of immediate roadside prohibitions for drinking drivers on alcohol-related collisions
- Youth Experiences Project: Police discretion with youth who use illicit substances
Publications
- A comparison of motivations for use among users of crack cocaine and cocaine powder in a sample of simultaneous cocaine and alcohol users
- A comparison of private and government-controlled liquor stores in British Columbia
- Addiction research centres and the nurturing of creativity: the Centre for Addictions Research of BC, Canada
- Alcohol, Isolation and Access to treatment: Family Physician Experiences of Alcohol Consumption and Access to Health Care in Rural British Columbia
- Alcohol and drug use as predictors of intentional injuries in two emergency departments in British Columbia
- Alcohol and Other-Drug Related Harms in BC's Island Health Region
- Alcohol as a trigger for medical emergencies
- Alcohol consumption and injury
- Alcohol consumption in British Columbia and Canada: A case for liquor taxes that reduce harm (PDF 334kb)
- Alcohol consumption in injuries
- Alcohol outlet densities and alcohol price: The British Columbia experiment in the partial privatization of alcohol sales off-premise
- Alcohol-related injuries in the Americas: variation by cause and country
- An examination of injection drug use trends in Victoria and Vancouver, BC after the closure of Victoria's only fixed-site needle and syringe programme
- Assessing the impacts of Saskatchewan's minimum alcohol pricing regulations on alcohol-related crime
- Canada’s cannabis legalization and drivers’ traffic-injury presentations to emergency departments in Ontario and Alberta, 2015-2019
- Canadian Substance Use Costs and Harms 2007-2014
- Canadian Substance Use Costs and Harms in the Provinces and Territories (2007-2014)
- Cannabis use as a risk factor for causing motor vehicle crashes: a prospective study
- Comparison of prevalence of alcohol-related
- Concordance of self-reported drug use and saliva drug tests in a sample of emergency department patients
- Drug testing in the workplace: Issues, answers and the Canadian perspective. Workplace Wellness: Issues and Responses
- Drug use trends in Victoria and Vancouver, and changes in injection drug use after the closure of Victoria’s fixed site needle exchange (PDF 919kb)
- Essentials of Statistics with SPSS
- Estimation of the impacts of substance use on workplace productivity: a hybrid human capital and prevalence-based approach applied to Canada
- Evaluating potential bias using the case-crossover usual frequency method to estimate risk of injury due to alcohol (PDF 199kb)
- Factors contributing to frequent police contact among young people: a multivariate analysis including homelessness, community visibility, and drug use in British Columbia, Canada
- Factors Related to Simultaneous Cocaine and Alcohol Use for Clients in Treatment
- Functions and harms associated with simultaneous polysubstance use involving alcohol and cocaine
- Health profiles of clients in substance abuse treatment: A comparison of clients dependent on alcohol or cocaine with those concurrently dependent
- Hypertension, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes, and depression among older methadone maintenance patients in British Columbia
- Impact on alcohol-related mortality of a rapid rise in the density of private liquor outlets in British Columbia: A local area multi-level analysis
- Is there a ‘low-risk’ drinking level for youth? The risk of acute harm as a function of quantity and frequency of drinking
- Legalization of Cannabis in Canada: Implementation strategies and public health
- Minimum alcohol prices and outlet densities in British Columbia, Canada: Estimated impacts on alcohol-attributable hospital admissions
- Misleading UK alcohol industry criticism of Canadian research on minimum pricing
- Nonfatal overdose from alcohol and/or drugs among a sample of recreational drug users
- Overdose events in British Columbia: Trends in substances involved, contexts and responses (PDF 585kb)
- Patterns of risky alcohol use in British Columbia: Results of the 2004 Canadian Addiction Survey (PDF 522kb)
- Per adult consumption of alcohol in British Columbia: 2002 to 2005. In: Mapping Substance Use in BC and Canada (PDF 265kb)
- Police discretion to charge young people who use drugs prior to cannabis legalization in British Columbia, Canada: a brief report of quantitative findings
- Police Encounters and Experiences among Youths and Adults Who Use Drugs: Qualitative and Quantitative Findings of a Cross-Sectional Study in Victoria, British Columbia
- Prevalence report 2008-12: Alcohol, cannabis, cigarettes & other drugs in BC & other provinces (PDF 262kb)
- Prevalence report 2008-12: Alcohol, cannabis, cigarettes & RX drugs in BC & other provinces (PDF 391kb)
- Prevalence report 2008-12: Cocaine, ecstasy, heroin & other drugs in BC & other provinces (PDF 341kb)
- Regional variations and trends in substance use and related harm in BC (PDF 349kb)
- Relationships between minimum alcohol pricing and crime during the partial privatization of a Canadian government alcohol monopoly
- Relationships Between Minimum Alcohol Pricing and Crime During the Partial Privatization of a Canadian Government Alcohol Monopoly
- Relative risk of injury from alcohol: findings from case-crossover studies
- Respondent-Driven Sampling With Youth Who Use Drugs: A Mixed Methods Assessment
- Risk of injury due to alcohol: Evaluating potential bias using the case-crossover-usual-frequency method
- Sexual identity and drug use harm among high-risk, active substance users
- Social–Contextual Factors Associated with Alcohol Use among Adolescents of Traditional Alcohol User and Non-User Ethnic Groups of Nepal
- Surveillance and monitoring of acute alcohol-related problems in the emergency room. In: Alcohol and injuries (PDF 116kb)
- Testing for cannabis in the workplace: A review of the evidence
- The impact on alcohol-related collisions of the partial decriminalization of impaired driving in British Columbia, Canada
- The price of getting high, stoned and drunk in BC: A comparison of minimum prices for alcohol and other psychoactive substances (PDF 423kb)
- The raising of minimum alcohol prices in Saskatchewan, Canada: Impacts on consumption and implications for public health
- The rate ratio of injury and aggressive incident for alcohol alone, cocaine alone and simultaneous use before the event: A case–crossover study
- The relationship between alcohol problems, perceived risks and attitudes toward alcohol policy in Canada
- The relationship between changes to minimum alcohol prices, outlet density and alcohol-attributable deaths in British Columbia, 2002-2009
- The role of psychosocial factors in criminal convictions among cocaine and gambling clients in treatment
- Tobacco reduction in the context of mental health and addictions: A review of the evidence (PDF 633kb)
- Who under-reports their alcohol consumption in telephone surveys and by how much? An application of the ‘yesterday method’ in a national Canadian substance use survey
- Young People Who Use Drugs Views Toward the Power and Authority of Police Officers
- “Accidental Intimacies”: Reconsidering Bodily Encounters Between Police and Young People Who Use Drugs
- “It's like super structural” – Overdose experiences of youth who use drugs and police in three non-metropolitan cities across British Columbia