News & events

We are inviting applicants to apply for the position of Research Associate for the Pilot Evaluation of the Decriminalization of Small Amounts of Substances in Victoria, BC. We are looking for someone who is exceptionally organized and detail-oriented and interested in harm reduction and decriminalization.

New national guidance to help people with severe alcohol addiction has been published by the BC Centre on Substance Use in partnership with the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research. The first-ever Canadian guidance for Managed Alcohol Programs (MAPs) has been developed to support scaling up of these evidence-based programs for treating severe alcohol use disorder (AUD).

A CISUR-led project reveals worsening alcohol policy grades across the country and proposed detailed steps to get Canada back on track.

New guidelines, developed by CISUR researchers and partners at SFU and the Victoria Foundry Youth Clinic. are intended to offer evidence-based and youth-led strategies to help young people who use cannabis. The variety of evidence supporting these guidelines and the focus on youths’ lived experience provides nuanced, practical, and feasible strategies to help mitigate the harms of cannabis while maximizing the event-level benefits.

In the most recent year of our BC Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) Monitoring Project data (2021/22), BC recorded a decrease of 0.13L in age 15+ per capita ethanol consumption, down to 9.19L from 9.32L. While this year marks a decrease to 2019/20 levels of consumption after a record high year in 2020/2021, consumption levels in BC based on AOD monitoring remain well above the Canadian average of 475 SDs per capita.

Dr. Marilou Gagnon has won the Provost’s Advocacy and Activism Awards in Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.

Three researchers at UVic’s Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research—director Tim Naimi and scientists Adam Sherk and Tim Stockwell—were part of an expert panel that helped create the new Canadian Guidance on Alcohol and Health.

Read CISUR's latest annual report.

A new toolkit developed by researchers at CISUR, Vancouver Coastal Health, UBC and BC Centre on Substance Use is designed to make public bathrooms safer for people who use substances and reduce overdose risk.

Dr. Jaime Arredondo Sanchez Lira is the new Canada Research Chair in Substance Use and Health Policy Research, one of three new UVic CRCs.

British Columbians drank more alcohol during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic than they have in the past 20 years, according to the latest analysis of BC alcohol sales data from the University of Victoria’s Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research (CISUR).

CISUR has created a new evidence-based, public-health-oriented guide for municipalities considering allowing drinking in their public outdoor spaces.

CISUR scientist and former assistant director Scott Macdonald has published Cannabis Crashes: Myths and Truths, a new book looking at the epidemiological evidence supports Canada's new cannabis-impaired driving laws. Download a free copy from our site.

Cannabis products in BC are getting cheaper and more potent, and its year-over-year sales have doubled between 2019 and 2020, according to a new report from the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research (CISUR). In 2020, sales added up to nearly 8,000 kg of THC—equivalent to approximately 400 million joints (at 20mg of THC each) and accounted for about $290 million in gross revenue.

CISUR Scientist and Nursing professor Dr. Bernie Pauly has won the 2021 Canadian Public Health Association's Ron Draper Health Promotion Award.

CISUR Director Tim Naimi co-authors this blog post for BMC Public Health on the relationship between alcohol and firearm policies and suicide rates in the US.

It’s official: British Columbians have been drinking more alcohol during the COVID-19 pandemic, with private liquor store sales accounting for the bulk of the increase in consumption—and the biggest spikes happening during lockdown. New analysis of BC alcohol sales data from UVic’s Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research (CISUR) shows that, although increases in overall alcohol consumption were modest, there was a significant rise in alcohol purchased in liquor stores.

CISUR Scientist Dr. Bernie Pauly and PhD student Meaghan Brown are featured in two UVic articles about their work on the Canadian Managed Alcohol Program Study (CMAPS).

When governments create a minimum price for alcoholic beverages, deaths and hospitalizations related to alcohol use significantly decrease, according to results from a new report in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.

CISUR's 2019/20 annual report is now online.

After a lengthy international search, CISUR finally has a new director—and it’s Tim. No, not that Tim. The other Tim. Dr. Tim Naimi officially started his tenure at CISUR’s new director August 17, having relocated from Boston with his family. He replaces Dr. Tim Stockwell, who was director at CISUR from its inception in 2004 until August 2020. Stockwell will remain at CISUR as a Scientist.

Substance use costs Canadian society almost $46 billion a year (2017) or almost $1,258 for every person in Canada. This data comes from Canadian Substance Use Costs and Harms 2015–2017, a report released today by the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction (CCSA) and the University of Victoria’s Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research (CISUR).

It’s not just heavy drinking that’s a problem -- even consuming alcohol within weekly low-risk drinking guidelines can result in hospitalization and death, according to a new study published in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs. Moderate drinkers “are not insulated from harm,” write researchers led by Adam Sherk, Ph.D., of the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada.

From advocating for the recognition of Indigenous and non-Indigenous midwives, to working with street-involved youth, to empowering sex workers to become their own health advocates, sociologist Cecilia Benoit has made vital contributions to the advancement of class, race and gender equality in Canada. A scientist with the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research (CISUR) and professor emerita of sociology at the University of Victoria has been awarded the 2020 Killam Prize in Social Sciences from the Canada Council for the Arts.

Colourful, highly visible warning labels applied to bottles and cans of alcohol in Yukon’s largest liquor store prompted many people in Canada’s highest-alcohol-consuming region to cut back on their drinking.

In light of the growing international interest in managed alcohol programs during the COVID-19 crisis, the Drug and Alcohol Review has made all of the Canadian Managed Alcohol Program papers from their recent special issue free access.

CISUR has created three new iMinds lessons to engage students in critical thinking around cannabis.

CISUR's Canadian Managed Alcohol Program Study (CMAPS) team, in partnership with members of the Eastside Illicit Drinkers Group for Education (EIDGE), has put together an infosheet of safer drinking tips during COVID-19.

CISUR's 19th bulletin, Youth Experiences: How police interactions impact youth who use drugs, is based on data from the Youth Experiences Project (YEP), which surveyed 449 and interviewed 38 youth aged 16-30 in Victoria, Chilliwack, and Prince George.

Dr. Tim Naimi of Boston University joins CISUR in August 2020.

CISUR and Island Health announce the Substance Use Grand Rounds speaker series, kicking off on Thursday February 20 with "Defining Addiction: Different Models, Different Treatments?" featuring Dr. Karen Urbanoski and Evan James of the Umbrella Society.

What is the difference between sex trafficking and prostitution? Are our impaired-driving laws and workplace drug policies based in scientific evidence? How can art help communities heal from the overdose crisis?