Wastewater analysis suggests that use of particular opioid pain medications decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020

March 9, 2022, 8:34 a.m. (EST)

Following our July 2021 release that focused on fentanyl, cannabis, and methamphetamine, new results from Statistics Canada's Canadian Wastewater Survey (CWS) indicate that the load of morphine or methadone did not differ significantly in wastewater from 2019 to 2020. In contrast, codeine load appears to have decreased over the same period.

Continue reading

Contact information

For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; STATCAN.infostats-infostats.STATCAN@canada.ca) or Media Relations (613-951-4636; STATCAN.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.STATCAN@canada.ca).