Understanding substance use trends by region, time and demographic groups can help inform evidence-based policy decisions and direct resource allocation for prevention, treatment and harm reduction efforts.

The new Substance Use Prevalence Interactive Chart is the only national resource that provides modelled estimates of substance use across Canadian provinces and territories by age, sex and year, spanning from 2008 to 2024. It builds and expands on foundational work by others including Health Canada, Statistics Canada, Canadian Institute for Health Information and other national, provincial and territorial agencies.

The new estimates fill critical gaps left by national surveys, which often miss certain years or jurisdictions and underrepresent key population subgroups due to, for example, small sample sizes.

Who Should Use This Chart

Public health experts, researchers, government officials and interested individuals can use these data to:

• Monitor substance use trends across Canada and identify vulnerable populations;
• Inform policy and program decision-making at the local, provincial/territorial and national levels;
• Support effective allocation of resources for prevention, treatment and harm reduction; and
• Highlight knowledge gaps and opportunities to improve national data reporting systems.