Cross-Canada report on student alcohol and drug use

Alcohol and drug use among Canadian youth is an important issue. Research indicates that youth are not only more likely than adults to engage in risky substance use, but also to experience greater harm from that use. This can negatively impact their health, academic achievement s, safety and, especially in the case of impair ed driving, the lives of others. From 2000 to 2007, 47% of all drivers 19 years of age or younger who died in traffic fatalities tested positive for either alcohol and/or drugs.

To develop a national picture of the scope of the problem, the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse (CCSA), in tandem with provincial health and addictions organizations in nine provinces, developed the Cross Canada Report on Student Alcohol and Drug Use.

The report combines data from the various regularly occurring provincial student alcohol and drug use surveys as well as data collected nationally by the Youth Smoking Survey. This represents the first time data from these varied sources have been brought together in a single report permitting the identification of national patterns of student substance use. It is hoped that a greater understanding of these national patterns will enable policy makers, researchers, and health care, prevention and treatment professionals to develop more appropriate, effective responses to student alcohol and drug use in Canada.

The full report and its executive summary are available below.

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