All information obtained during the study will be held in strict confidence. You will be identified on all study documents with a study identification number only. Because we will be discussing cannabis, which is a controlled substance (except for those individuals participating in Health Canada’s medical cannabis program), all participants are encouraged to avoid writing about or discussing any identifying information (i.e., names, addresses, workplaces) when completing the surveys or the telephone interviews. Please note that FluidSurveys is being used to collect survey data, and is a service provided by SurveyMonkey, a US based company. The servers on which FluidSurveys operate are located in Canada, so your information will be hosted in Canada. Additionally, your information may be processed in and transferred or disclosed to countries in which their affiliates are located and in which their service providers are located or have servers. In particular, the US Patriot Act allows authorities access to the records of Internet service providers. The survey or questionnaire does not ask for personal identifiers or any information that may be used to identify you. The web survey company servers record incoming IP addresses of the computer that you use to access the survey but no connection is made between your data and your computer’s IP address. If you choose to participate in the survey, you understand that your responses to the survey questions may be accessed in the USA. The security and privacy policy for the websurvey company can be found at the following link: http://fluidsurveys.com/about/privacy. Email addresses and phone numbers will be collected so that we may contact you for follow-up surveys; however this identifying information will be kept separate from your survey responses and phone interviews. The information you provide will be stored in a locked file cabinet and computer files will be password protected. All contact information (i.e., email addresses, telephone numbers) will be kept separately from the data in an unmarked file folder (stored in a locked filing cabinet) or on a password protected computer and destroyed at the completion of the study. Only the researchers associated with this project and their research staff who have signed confidentiality agreements will have authorized access to the data, and your contact information will not be released to anyone beyond the Principal Investigator or research staff contacting patients for follow-up surveys and/or interviews. No identifying information will be used in any publications or presentations that come from this study.
