BC Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) monitoring project

Background: CISUR (then CARBC) was awarded a contract from the Provincial Health Services Authority and Health Canada to pilot a comprehensive alcohol and other drug epidemiological monitoring system for Canada in 2007. Subsequently a number of other funding partners contributed to the full roll-out of this system for British Columbia and some elements were implemented in other Canadian provinces. Key components include rates of hospitalization and death caused by different substances, both legal and illegal, all by local health area; per capita alcohol sales by local health area; and, in older data sets, substances used by individuals attending emergency rooms in Victoria and Vancouver; drugs seized by police, as well as patterns and contexts of use and harms experienced by high-risk drug-using populations in Victoria and Vancouver.

Progress to date: In 2018-19, The AOD Project became a subsidiary project of the BC Co/Lab: A collaborative community laboratory on substance use and harm reduction and have convened a team of stakeholders (including people who use drugs, service providers, regional and provincial government, and national researchers) to decide on new directions around equity-oriented monitoring and surveillance.

Key findings are presented in the facts & stats section of this site. See side navigation for methodology for various research components.

Upon request, information from the various research components can be put together and organized to create regional profiles that will assist policy-makers within the regions to identify and address unique issues facing their communities.

An interactive AOD Tool has been developed.

Related Projects

• BC Co/Lab: A collaborative community laboratory on substance use and harm reduction