News & events

The Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research (CISUR) has released several new guides designed to help diverse segments of the community navigate various aspects of recreational cannabis legalization.

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?

CISUR's Helping Schools project has developed 20 new gambling lesson plans to be used in BC classrooms.

A new study, commissioned by the Finnish alcohol monopoly, Alko and led by researchers at CISUR and a team of international experts, was released today.

When it comes to drinking, British Columbians still like to tipple more than the Canadian average—but new numbers from UVic’s Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research (CISUR) show a decrease in BC’s alcohol consumption for the first time in nearly a decade. After seeing steady growth in per-capita consumption of alcohol every year for the past several years, CISUR’s latest data shows a dip in BC’s consumption for the first time since 2012/13, going from 9.44 litres of absolute ethanol in 2017/18 to 9.35 litres in 2018/19.

A new report, co-led by CISUR and CCSA, reveals that substance use costs Canadian society $38.4 billion in 2014, with alcohol being the lead contributor.

Scotland’s first study into the impact of new alcohol minimum unit pricing law on homeless drinkers is being led by experts from the Glasgow Caledonia University’s Substance Use and Misuse research group, which includes CISUR's Tim Stockwell.

As Canadians are preparing to fire up the grill for the last big weekend of the summer, it might come as a surprise to hear that we are consuming as many calories in our beers as we are in our burgers.

A recent review of Scott Macdonald's book: "Cannabis Crashes: Myths and Truths"

Introducing CISUR's annual report for the 2018/19 fiscal year.

Bevel Up, an award-winning documentary and learning resource to help healthcare workers deliver compassionate care to people who use drugs, is available for the first time as free online harm-reduction content at NFB.ca. Created in 2007 by the outreach nursing team from the BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) and co-produced with the National Film Board of Canada (NFB), Bevel Up is designed to give students and instructors in the healthcare field access to the knowledge and experience of pioneering practitioners, as street nurses in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside deliver nonjudgmental, compassionate and trauma-informed healthcare to people who use drugs.

The BC Ministry of Public Safety & Solicitor General has provided funding to the University of Victoria’s Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research (CISUR, formerly CARBC) to support community dialogues in response to the opioid overdose crisis in British Columbia. Community coalitions from every region of the province are invited to submit a letter of interest in engaging their community in dialogue about opioid and other drug use. CISUR will provide selected communities with grants ranging from $2,000 to $15,000 to assist with costs associated with hosting a community dialogue.

The Ontario government’s proposed new changes to alcohol policy—including wider availability, extending hours of sale, legalizing tailgate parties, and allowing for advertising of free alcohol in casinos and happy-hour specials—will increase alcohol-related harms in the province, according to the Canadian Alcohol Policy Evaluation (CAPE) project.

A new Health-Canada-funded study, led by the University of Victoria’s Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research (CISUR) and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto, provides report cards for each province and territory on how well they implement policies proven to reduce the harms and economic costs from alcohol use.

An innovative program designed by a chemist and social worker (CISUR's Bruce Wallace) at the University of Victoria is being piloted at Victoria harm reduction sites to provide a quick, accurate chemical analysis of drugs in order to prevent overdoses while also comparing and evaluating different drug-checking technologies.

Canada’s federal, provincial and territorial governments could be doing a much better job at implementing policies that reduce alcohol-related harms, according to new reports from the University of Victoria’s Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research (CISUR).

When the BC government began opening overdose prevention sites (OPS) across the province two years ago, it was an unprecedented response to the overdose crisis. Unlike supervised consumption sites (SCS), which were subject to lengthy (and often onerous) approval processes, OPS were rolled out quickly and led by community members on the front lines of the public-health emergency. In the early weeks of the sites being established in Victoria, researchers with the University of Victoria’s Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research (CISUR) collaborated with several community agencies to learn from these innovative overdose prevention strategies.

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.

The following University of Victoria experts are available to media for perspective on the Canadian government’s changes to drug-impaired driving laws, including the introduction of mandatory alcohol screening, set to come into force on December 18.

Substance use in British Columbia cost the provincial economy $4.8 billion in 2014, according to a new summary report and cost profiles for the provinces and territories.

As Canada legalizes recreation cannabis, CISUR's iMinds drug and gambling literacy materials offers several new cannabis-related lesson ideas and guides.

Three University of Victoria faculty members, including CISUR director Tim Stockwell, have received the country’s highest academic honour, named 2018 fellows of the Royal Society of Canada.

Our first annual report as the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research.

A nationally recognized scholar, UVic sociologist Cecilia Benoit has illuminated the need for equitable treatment of marginalized populations, especially women, for more than 25 years. To support this important work, the Pierre Elliot Trudeau Foundation has awarded Benoit a $225,000 fellowship over the next three years.

CISUR is pleased to present this public talk from the Reducing Stigma in Primary Care Research Team, available in person in Victoria, BC or via webinar.

For the first time, a peer-reviewed journal has compiled the largest collection of peer-reviewed articles on MAPs that aims to bring this radical harm-reduction strategy out into the open and shed light on how, in their different forms, they contribute to the health and well-being of participants.

Starting today, warning labels cautioning consumers about the link between alcohol use and an increased risk of breast and colon cancer will be applied to all bottles and cans sold at the Whitehorse liquor store. This specific labelling, part of the Northern Territories Alcohol study led by the University of Victoria’s Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research (CISUR, formerly CARBC) and Public Health Ontario (PHO), is a first for Canada.

The International Model of Alcohol Harms and Policies (InterMAHP) version 1.0 is a comprehensive set of guidelines, methods and manuals, as well as a SAS®-based tool created towards the goal of standardizing and automating the calculation and application of alcohol-attributable fractions (AAFs) globally.

CISUR research plays key role in Scottish Supreme Court alcohol decision

Our latest research bulletin looks at a project where sex workers became health educators

What’s in a name? For the University of Victoria’s Centre for Addictions Research of BC (CARBC), many things. Which is why we will now be known as the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research (CISUR).

CISUR and Island Health release "A Public Health Guide to Developing a Community Overdose Response Plan."

CISUR Director Tim Stockwell on alcohol & cancer, industry obfuscation and the most viable approach to reduce population harms from alcohol