The Canadian Addiction Survey (CAS) is a collaborative initiative sponsored by Health Canada, the Canadian Executive Council on Addictions (CECA) - which includes the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse (CCSA), the Alberta Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission (AADAC), the Addictions Foundation of Manitoba (AFM), the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), the Prince Edward Island Provincial Health Services Authority, and the Kaiser Foundation - the Centre for Addictions Research of BC (CAR-BC), and the provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and British Columbia.
In the spirit of partnership on which the CAS was founded, the microdata file is now available for public use for non-commercial, scientifically rigorous research and teaching purposes. Academic researchers may access the data file through the Data Liberation Initiative. All normal DLI licence restrictions apply to those choosing this route. Non-academic researchers may be granted access through a CCSA/Carleton University partnership.
The Data Liberation Initiative (DLI) represents a cooperative effort between Statistics Canada and the Canadian academic community. It provides participating Canadian post-secondary institutions with affordable and equitable access to Statistics Canada standard electronic data products, databases, public use microdata files and geographical files. For more information on the DLI, please visit the Statistics Canada website.
All other researchers, research organizations and academics who wish to analyze the data outside the confines of the DLI licence, may apply for access to the CAS data through the CCSA/Carleton University partnership. CCSA and Carleton University have signed a five-year Memorandum of Agreement that is intended to provide a bridge between academic excellence and the addictions field. Working together to make the CAS data publicly accessible is a highlight of the partnership.
Non-DLI applicants, please click here to review the data access procedure and for downloading of the Request for Access form and the Licence Agreement.
For more information, please contact CCSA.