Cocaine use rising in Canada, new data suggests, as researchers link stimulants to drug deaths – CBC

StatsCan report shows overall rise in wastewater levels

Nov 02, 2023

More Canadians are using stimulants such as cocaine, new federal data suggests, and experts warn the trend is contributing to a high percentage of drug-related deaths.

In most municipalities studied, cocaine levels rose from January to May 2022 compared with the same period in 2020, and early data for 2023 suggests that overall rise is continuing, according to a Statistics Canada report released on Wednesday.

And, as drug overdoses increased overall by more than 30 per cent from 2020 to 2021, roughly half of the apparent accidental opioid deaths “also involved a stimulant,” said Statistics Canada, citing another report by the Public Health Agency of Canada.

The data “shows that in the last few years, things have worsened,” said Tara Gomes, a research scientist based out of Unity Health Toronto and a principal investigator with the Ontario Drug Policy Research Network (ODPRN), who wasn’t involved in the federal analysis.

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/cocaine-use-canada-1.7015603