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The Research, Surveillance, Science and Current News provides new publications and data releases on substance use and harms for the month of MONTH 2023 with a focus on epidemiological and statistical disciplines.

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Data Releases

Data Releases from Canada

Health Canada's Drug Analysis Service
  • The emergence of Xylazine in Canada indicating that Xylazine
  • First identified in Canada in 2001 in exhibits submitted by law enforcement agencies and emerging in 2019, had 5 identifications 2018, in-creasing to 205 in 2019, and between January 2012 and December 2022, Xylazine has been identified in 2,324 exhibits submitted to DAS.
Health Canada's Drug Analysis Service
  • The evolution of Fentanyl in Cana-da over the past 11 years
  • Indicating that Fentanyl, first identified in Canada in 1989 exhibits submitted to DAS by law enforcement, has seen a sharp increase; between January 2012 and December 2022, Fentanyl has been identified in 77,141 exhibits.
Statistics Canada
  • Exploring the intersectionality of characteristics among those who experi-enced opioid overdoses: A cluster analysis
  • Results reveal a six-cluster solution identifying characteris-tics of those experiencing overdose.
  • Application of machine learning techniques to a multidimensional database enables an intersectional approach to study those experiencing opioid over-doses.
  • The results revealed distinct patient profiles that can be used to better target interventions and treatment.
BC Coroners Service -- January 2023 Release:
  • There were 211 suspected illicit drug deaths, which represents a 2% decrease (216) over the number in January 2022 and a 2% increase (207) over December 2022.
Center on Drug Policy Evaluation
  • Toronto's Drug Checking Service sample results for February 25 -- March 10, 2023
  • Key findings include 7% of the expected fentanyl samples were known to be associated with an overdose.
  • All contained fentanyl and almost all contained other high-potency opioids, like carfentanil (up to 100 times stronger than fentanyl) or fluorofentanyl (roughly as strong as fentanyl), and benzodiazepine-related drugs.
Canadian Center on Substance Use and Addiction

  • Canadian Substance Use Costs and Harms 2007--2020

  • Substance use led to $13.4 billion in healthcare costs in 2020 or 27.3% of the overall cost of $49.1 billion (alcohol $6.3B; opioids $519M), and nearly 74,000 deaths in 2020. While per-person healthcare costs attributable to alcohol rose 40.5% between 2007 and 2020 (from $117 to $165), per-person healthcare costs associated with tobacco use decreased 14.5% (from $167 to $143).

International Data Releases

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New Publications

Long-term wastewater-based surveillance and impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on drug use trends in a U.S. Northeast rural town

  • Examines the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on drug use in a rural community using a two-year wastewater-based drug use surveillance from September 2018 to August 2020.

  • Analysis for ten priority opioids and stimulants found all target drugs were detected at 100 % frequency in wastewater samples, and per capita consumption of fentanyl was higher than previous reports.

  • The results demonstrate the utility and strength of wastewater-based approaches in capturing long-term and evolving trends in drug use within communities and provide objective data and insights for health policymakers on the effects of the pandemic period on community drug use in a rural U.S. town.
Racial and Ethnic Differences in Deaths by Suicide, Drug Overdose, and Opioid-Related Overdose in a National Sample of Military Members With Mild Traumatic Brain Injury, 1999-2019

  • Examined racial and ethnic differences in suicide and drug and opioid-related overdose deaths among a population-based cohort of military service members who were diagnosed with a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) during military service.

  • Age-specific rates for military members who self-identified as Other were higher than all other racial/ethnic groups for all 3 mortality outcomes; adjusting for age, suicide rates for those classified as "Other" were up to 5 times that of other racial/ethnic groups for suicide, and up to 11 and 3.5 times that of other race/ethnicity groups for drug and opioid overdose death, respectively, highlighting new areas for understanding the impact of race and ethnicity on mortality.
Alcohol use and treatment utilization in a national sample of veterans and nonveterans

  • Compared prevalence of alcohol use problems and alcohol treatment utilization between veterans and nonveterans and whether predictors of alcohol use problems and alcohol treatment utilization differ in veterans vs. nonveterans.

  • Population weighted regression models demonstrated that veterans reported modestly higher alcohol consumption than nonveterans, but were not significantly more likely to need intensive alcohol treatment.

  • Veterans may benefit from interventions with social and financial support to reduce alcohol problems; these findings can help to identify veterans and nonveterans who are more likely to need treatment.