About the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction

An act of Parliament with all-party support established the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction (CCSA) in 1988. Our mission is to provide national leadership to address substance use health issues and advance solutions to address alcohol- and other drug-related harms.

We pride ourselves on being an independent and trusted third-party expert on substance use and addiction. For more than 35 years, we have worked and built trust with partners and governments across the healthcare and political spectrums.

We are committed to equity, diversity and inclusion in all aspects of our work. We are determined to ensure that First Nations, Inuit and Métis people and all equity-deserving groups are fully represented, including women, people of colour, people with disabilities and members of the 2SLGBTQ+ community.

We have been increasingly working to partner with people with expertise, through lived and living experience or through abstinence, in the field of substance use health. Collaboration ensures that our research is relevant to people it concerns and that services are designed to meet the needs of people accessing support.

Our work is always firmly rooted in evidence and sound methodology but is driven by compassion. We are committed to fostering understanding and awareness of substance use health issues. That is what people in Canada expect of us.
Much of our activities and products are made possible through a financial contribution from Health Canada. The views of the organization do not necessarily represent the views of the Government of Canada.