The British Columbia Alcohol and other Drug Monitoring System: Overview and Early Progress

Abstract

This pilot project is a province-wide and nationally=supported collaboration intended to add value to existing monitoring and surveillance exercises that currently exist and are being developed in Canada. The fundamental aim is to create a system that generates a timely flow of data on hazardous patterns of substance use and related harms so as to inform public debate, to support effective policy, and to facilitate policy-relevant epidemiological research. Pilot and feasibility exercises have been conducted in relation to developing consistent questions in surveys of general and special populations, treatment system data, data on the Contemporary Drug Problems 36/Fall-Winter 2009 459 CDP Fall/Winter 2009 article by: Stockwell, et al.

Alcohol Outlet Densities and Alcohol Price: TheBritishColumbia Experiment in the Partial Privatization of Alcohol Sales Off‐Premise

“…And it may be that private alcohol retailers compete through lower prices which may fuel consumption either to unsafe levels or in unsafe environments. This is, of course, consistent with a line of research linking alcohol outlet privatization to increased consumption and related problems (Holder et al., ; Macdonald, ; Macdonald et al., in press; Markowitz, ; Stockwell et al., ,b, ; Trolldal, ,b; Wagenaar and Holder, , ; Wagenaar and Langley, ).…”

Association among different measures of alcohol use across adolescence and emerging adulthood

“…Although alcohol indices are highly correlated at a single time-point [24,[29][30][31], longitudinal research suggests that indices may change differentially over time and are differentially related to health outcomes [12,[32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40]. Following 714 emerging adults (ages 18-26), Casswell, Pledger & Pratap [12] found that typical quantity peaked at age 21 and then declined, whereas drinking frequency continued to increase steadily over time.…”

“…Similarly, following 7344 adolescents from ages 12 to 23, Biehl et al [14] found that both frequency and HED increased from ages 12 to 19, but that HED leveled off more than frequency after age 19. Further, acute consequences of alcohol, such as accidental injury, tend to be associated more strongly with HED than volume [32][33][34][35][36]. In contrast, chronic problems, such as alcohol use disorders, have been more closely linked with volume [34,37,38].…”

Ethno-Cultural Differences in the Use of Alcohol and Other Drugs: Evidence from the Vancouver Youth Drug Reporting System

“…Compounding this challenge is the absence in many settings of timely monitoring and surveillance data regarding trends in youth substance use (Stockwell, Buxton, Duff, Marsh, & Macdonald, 2009). This problem is especially pronounced among youth not in school.…”

“…This problem is especially pronounced among youth not in school. In Canada, school-based surveys addressing substance use are conducted in many provinces, although the frequency of data collection and the character of survey items differs markedly both between and within provinces (Duff, Michelow, Chow, & Stockwell, 2009;Stockwell et al, 2009). In British Columbia, the McCreary Centre has conducted high-quality, robust monitoring work within school populations for many years, although substance use is only one of several survey topics (McCreary Centre Society, 2003).…”