New Health Canada public dashboard shares data on illicit drug use through wastewater

An Ontario Provincial Police officer displays bags containing fentanyl, Feb. 23, 2017. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

Health Canada is launching a new approach to understanding data on illicit drug use across the country through the monitoring of wastewater.

The National Wastewater Drug Surveillance (NWDS) program is a public dashboard that shows data on which drugs are prevalent in different parts of the country. The data is collected by analyzing wastewater samples from seven participating provinces and territories – British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and the Northwest Territories.

The approach of making this regional data available to the public is intended to help inform “early intervention, response, and timely decision-making at the municipal, provincial and federal levels,” according to a release from Health Canada.

“Data is one of our key tools as we continue to face the illegal drug and overdose crisis in Canada,” Minister of Health Marjorie Michel said in the release. “The launch of the NWDS dashboard is a milestone in transparency and accessibility of data. It will enable a deeper level of collaboration at all levels as we work to protect community safety, reduce the harms of toxic synthetic drugs and save lives.”

Stimulants, hallucinogens, opioids, dissociatives, sedatives and hypnotics, synthetic cannabinoids, precursor chemicals, and antipsychotics are among the more than 500 substances the NWDS shares data on. Screening doesn’t include most pharmaceuticals, though there are exceptions for xylazine, fentanyl and morphine, among others.

At the time of its launch, Health Canada said the dashboard showed that of 211 samples analyzed, 5,000 drugs were found, including 20 substances chemically related to fentanyl.

The data dates back to January 2023, when the NWDS was first started, and goes until July 2025. It will be updated quarterly.

Wastewater testing proved to be useful in the past. During the pandemic, wastewater surveillance in Ontario emerged as a crucial tool for monitoring the level of COVID-19 infection in the population.

In October, Toronto Public Health announced it was developing a wastewater surveillance program to detect any potential spread of diseases during the FIFA World Cup.