SUAP Primer

About The Substance Use and Addictions Program

Health Canada’s Substance Use and Addictions Program provides grants and contributions funding to respond to drug and substance use issues in Canada. Funding supports a wide range of evidence-informed and innovative problematic substance use prevention, harm reduction and treatment initiatives across Canada at the community, regional and national levels. Initiatives target a range of psychoactive substances, including opioids, stimulants, cannabis, alcohol, nicotine and tobacco.

More here: https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/substance-use/canadian-drugs-substances-strategy/funding/substance-use-addictions-program.html)

History of Health Canada Grants and Contributions (Gs&Cs) programs targeting drug and substance use issues

Alcohol and Drug Treatment Rehabilitation (ADTR): active from 1987-2007 to support provincial and territorial treatment initiatives.

Drug Treatment Funding Program (DTFP): created in 2008 under the National Anti-Drug Strategy (NADS) Treatment Action Plan, replacing the ADTR. Provided approximately $13.2M directly to P/T governments and a few select NGOs via a population-based funding allocation. Primary ongoing focus was on P/T treatment system enhancements, plus a 5-year time-limited treatment service component.

Drug Strategy Community Initiatives Fund (DSCIF): created in 2004 to support a wide range of community-based health promotion, prevention and, pre-NADS, harm reduction initiatives. The program had $9.8M in annual funding. Until April 2012, the program was delivered nationally and through regional offices across Canada. Under the NADS, focus was on youth prevention and policy authority for harm reduction and alcohol was removed.

Anti-Drug Strategy Initiatives (ADSI): created in December 2014 through a merger of the DTFP and DSCIF into a single G&C funding program. The impetus for the merger was to: remove P/T allocations; enhance program funding flexibility across prevention and treatment (and harm reduction); and refresh the program delivery framework. The ADSI era closed-out existing DSCIF and DTFP projects and supported a cohort of prescriber education projects funded in 2015.

Substance Use and Addictions Program (SUAP): the name of the ADSI was changed in 2016 to align with a public health approach to substance use and signal the expanded scope of the program under the CDSS to include alcohol, harm reduction etc. In 2016-17 the SUAP launched a targeted call for proposals and in 2017-18 launched a national, continuous-intake CFP. More recently, the scope of the SUAP has expanded beyond the CDSS as a ‘hub’ program consisting of various funding streams.

More here : Backgrounder SUAP Program History

Current SUAP priorities

Priorities for the Substance Use and Addictions Program are currently divided along 4 axes:

1. Innovative responses to Canada’s opioid crisis

§ Focusing on areas and populations with the highest

§ Evidence-informed primary, secondary and tertiary overdose prevention

§ Expanding access and overcoming barriers to innovative harm reduction and/or treatment models

§ Development, enhancement and uptake of evidence-informed tools, technology, guidelines and protocols

§ Empowering service providers with knowledge, skills, tools and supports

§ Enhancing access to, sharing and use of data to inform responses to the opioid crisis

2. Cannabis public education and awareness

§ Target audiences with greater risks and/or harms associated with cannabis use

§ Support Indigenous communities in developing culturally appropriate education, awareness, harm reduction and prevention

§ Provide professional communities (i.e., health professionals, educators and law enforcement) and front-line service providers with the tools, resources, skills and training

§ Support community-based organizations across Canada in educating their communities about the health effects and safety risks of cannabis

§ Develop interventions to address individual, interpersonal, community and/or societal factors that may reduce the risks, or enhance protective factors, against problematic cannabis use

3. Addressing tobacco use, particularly cigarette smoking

§ health promotion and communication initiatives

§ reducing smoking among at-risk populations and/or promoting common approaches to smoking cessation and prevention, including harm reduction approaches

4. Addressing alcohol and/or other legal or illegal substances

§ focus on high-risk use and respond to the individual, relationship, community and societal factors that contribute to high-risk substance use

Objective of the SUAP Program

The overall objective of the SUAP is to facilitate the development of responses to legal and illegal substance use issues along the continuum of care from health promotion and prevention to harm reduction, treatment and rehabilitation by:

• preventing problematic substance use and reducing harms;

• facilitating treatment and related system enhancements; and

• improving awareness, knowledge, skills and competencies of targeted stakeholders and Canadians.

Expected Results of the SUAP Program

The expected results for the SUAP include:

Immediate:

• Targeted stakeholders and Canadians access evidence-informed information related to substance use.

• Targeted stakeholders and Canadians are equipped with the capacity (knowledge, skills and supports) to inform their decisions and actions related to substance use.

Intermediate:

• Targeted stakeholders use evidence-informed information on substance use to change policies, programs, and practice.

• Targeted Canadians take positive actions with respect to substance use.

Long-Term:

• Canadians have access to quality, evidence-informed health promotion, prevention, treatment and harm reduction programs and services.

• Canadians have better health outcomes.

In line with the Policy on Results, Health Canada has identified outcomes through the development of a program logic model, a component of its Performance Measurement Strategy. Key indicators and how they will be measured (e.g., data source, frequency, target) have been identified in an indicator table. Recipients will use these performance measurement tools to collect performance data for monitoring and reporting.

SUAP Source of funds

As a contribution program, SUAP receives Gs&Cs funds under:

· The Canadian Drugs and Substances Strategy

· Various Budget announcement by the Government (B2017, B2018, B2019) under:

Source	Amount
Canada Drugs and Substances Strategy (CDSS)	$26.3M, ongoing
B2017: CDSS Harm Reduction (Opioids)	$10M over 5yrs, $3M ongoing
B2018: Opioids	$11.6M over 5yrs, $3.7M ongoing
B2018: Cannabis Public Education	$77.5M over 5yrs
B2018: Tobacco	$14M over 4yrs, $3.5M ongoing

Program Authorities

The program Terms and Conditions is a document, approved by the Treasury Board or a minister, which sets out the parameters under which transfer payments may be made for a given program. They outline who can apply, the type of projects and activities that can be funded as well as the types of expenditures that are eligible for funding.

The SUAP Terms and Conditions took effect on December 4, 2014, and were amended on January 16, 2019. They provide ongoing authority for Health Canada to transfer contribution funding to Recipients of the SUAP. These also provide authority for Health Canada to transfer micro-funding grants to test new and innovative ways of addressing tobacco use, and to support cannabis public education, awareness, and research activities.

Read SUAP Terms and conditions here :

Recent SUAP Calls for proposals

A call for proposal is an invitation for organizations and/or individuals to submit their project ideas. The projects must meet the requirements outlined in the applicant guidelines provided by the program. You can read more about recent CFPs and below

June 2017 CFP Applicant Guidelines :

August 2019 CFP Applicant Guidelines:

April 2019 CFP Applicant Guidelines :

Anticipatory 2019 CFP Applicant Guidelines:

Targeted call for proposal launched for the B2019 naloxone training stream:

Microgrants May 2018 : https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/substance-use/canadian-drugs-substances-strategy/funding/substance-use-addictions-program/microfunding-cannabis-vaping-education.html

- Drug Checking Technology Challenge (finalist to be named this fiscal year)

https://impact.canada.ca/en/challenges/drug-checking-challenge

Link to Contribution Agreement template and recipient reporting guide

M:\SPB-DGPS\HPSID-DPSIS\05 OFFICE Gs & Cs\Funding Agreement Tools\_Terms of Agreement

Branch Overview:

Substance Use and Addiction Knowledge:

SUAP primer

Contents