Canadian Postsecondary Education Alcohol and Drug Use Survey (CPADS): Public Use Microdata File

Canadian Postsecondary Education Alcohol and Drug Use Survey (CPADS): Public Use Microdata File is an open dataset from Health Canada with 6 files (PDF, CSV); catalogue record updated 2026-10-28. On CanQuery you can preview 2 live tables, filter, chart and export up to 10,000 rows as CSV and follow the original downloads. Files are available in English and French.

The Canadian Postsecondary Education Alcohol and Drug Use Survey (CPADS) is a national, cross-sectional survey conducted by Health Canada that examines substance use and related harms among students enrolled in postsecondary institutions across Canada. The survey collects information on the use of alcohol, cannabis, tobacco, vaping products, psychoactive pharmaceuticals (including pain relievers, sedatives, and stimulants), and illegal drugs (such as heroin and cocaine). CPADS provides data on the prevalence, patterns, and trends of substance use in postsecondary populations and supports surveillance, research, and evidence-based policy development. Summary results from each cycle are available here: https://health-infobase.canada.ca/substance-use/reports/cpads/ The Office of Drug Research and Surveillance releases this Public Use Microdata File (PUMF) to allow researchers, provincial and territorial governments, and others to conduct independent analyses of these data.

Publisher

Health Canada

Resources

6

Catalogue metadata updated

2026-10-28