Substance Abuse in Canada
Substance-Specific Costs (2020)
Alcohol: $19.7 billion (40.1% of total costs)
Tobacco: $11.2 billion (22.7% of total costs)
Opioids: $7.1 billion (14.4% of total costs)
Cocaine: $4.2 billion (8.5% of total costs) [4]
Healthcare Costs Breakdown (2020)
Physician time: $4.48 billion
Prescription drugs: $4.24 billion
Inpatient hospitalizations: $3.29 billion [5]
Opioid Crisis and Fentanyl
From January 2016 to March 2023, 38,514 apparent opioid toxicity deaths occurred in Canada.
In 2021, there were 7,993 opioid-related deaths in Canada.
In the first six months of 2022, there were 3,556 opioid-related toxicity deaths.
The death rate in 2022 (first half) was 19 per 100,000 population, similar to 2021 levels.
Fentanyl contributed to 89.2% of accidental opioid-related deaths in Ontario in 2021, a 602% increase since 2016.
Citations
[1] https://portage.ca/en/the-cost-of-substance-use-in-canada-a-very-real-impact/
[4] https://csuch.ca/documents/reports/english/Canadian-Substance-Use-Costs-and-Harms-Report-2023-en.pdf
[5] https://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/march-2024/substance-use-health-care/
https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/publications/healthy-living/canadian-drugs-substances-strategy-approach-related-harms-overdose-crisis.html
https://www.uvic.ca/research/centres/cisur/news/archive/substance-use-costs-canadians-38.4b-per-year-cisur-co-led-report.php
https://www.ccsa.ca/sites/default/files/2019-04/CSUCH-Canadian-Substance-Use-Costs-Harms-Report-2018-en.pdf
https://lop.parl.ca/sites/PublicWebsite/default/en_CA/ResearchPublications/202123E
https://www.camh.ca/en/driving-change/the-crisis-is-real/mental-health-statistics
https://www.teenchallenge.ca/downloads/annual_reports/TCC_Annual_Report_2023_Spreads.pdf