Canadian Student Alcohol and Drugs Survey (CSADS): Public Use Microdata File

Every two years, Health Canada conducts the Canadian Student Alcohol and Drugs Survey (CSADS), a cross-sectional survey of students in grades 7 to 12 across the Canadian provinces.

With tens of thousands of participants each cycle, it is one of the largest youth surveys in the world. For over 30 years, the survey—previously known as the Youth Smoking Survey (YSS; pre-2014) and the Canadian Student Tobacco, Alcohol and Drugs Survey (CSTADS; 2014–2022)—has collected data on substance use, perceptions, and wellbeing, providing a rich data source for both trend and intersectional analyses. Summary results from each cycle are available here: https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/canadian-student-tobacco-alcohol-drugs-survey.html.

The Office of Drug Research and Surveillance releases this Public Use Microdata File (PUMF) to allow researchers, provincial governments, and others to conduct independent analyses of these important data.