Canada: US Seizures Of Canadian Pot Rises 259% Since 2001
Chronicle Herald, Tue, 01 Feb 2005
Stephen Thorne, Canadian Press
OTTAWA - Seizures of Canadian-made marijuana by U.S. authorities have increased 259 per cent since 2001 but still constitute only about two per cent of all such seizures at U.S. borders, says a joint assessment.
The 28-page report prepared by Canadian and U.S. authorities said "the two governments are very concerned about an upward trend in seizures."
The vast majority of marijuana seized at U.S. borders comes from Mexico, the report said. Though Canada accounts for only two per cent of pot seized, it is still the second-largest supplier, followed by Colombia and Jamaica.
The report said the increase is partly the result of more effective policing, including tighter border controls and better co-operation between the two countries since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the U.S.
"We’ve been working more closely today than we ever have," said RCMP Chief Superintendent Raf Souccar, director general of drugs and organized crime.
"And we seem to be working smarter instead of harder," making the most of limited resources by combining efforts, following intelligence leads and targeting criminal organizations who wield the most power.
Most of the southbound marijuana seized is in bud form, known as sinsemilla, which is mainly produced in British Columbia and generally has higher potency levels than other forms of marijuana, the report said.
RCMP estimate that annual marijuana production in Canada ranges between 960 and 2,400 tonnes, most of it in British Columbia. Canadian authorities seized a record 1.4 million plants in 2003, the document says.
Annual U.S. production ranges between 3,100 and 7,100 tonnes, with 3.6 million plants seized in 2003.
The report says Canadian marijuana is primarily destined for major U.S. cities: Chicago, Los Angeles, San Diego, Miami, New York, Phoenix, Tucson and Seattle.
"Over the last five years, organized criminal groups based in Canada have emerged as suppliers of marijuana to the United States, exercising control over production, transportation and financing," said the report.
The study was jointly prepared by eight Canadian agencies, including the RCMP, Foreign Affairs, Health Canada and the Canadian Border Services Agency; and 10 American agencies, including the FBI, Homeland Security and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Adminstration.
The report says Vietnamese and other Asian criminal organizations have supplanted outlaw motorocycle gangs as the No. 1 smuggling threat at the border.
"These groups are highly organized and transport large quantities of marijuana across the border into the United States."
Many traffic several types of drugs and proceeds from the sale of Canadian marijuana can be used to finance the purchase of cocaine and other drugs for import into Canada.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency reports that "traffickers occasionally exchange cocaine at a rate of four to eight pounds of Canadian-produced marijuana for one kilogram of cocaine."
Other items of interest from the report:
About a quarter of the cocaine imported into Canada comes through the United States, usually by highway from Houston and Los Angeles through Windsor, Sarnia and Sault-Ste-Marie, Ont.
Authorities estimate that only one to two tonnes of heroin is smuggled into Canada annually, 77 per cent of it from Southeast Asia ( China, Cambodia and Thailand ).
Increasing amounts of ephedrine, the key ingredient to methamphetamines, have been imported to Canada, mainly from China and India with the goal of getting it into the United States in raw or processed form.
The number of methamphetamine labs dismantled by Canadian police was 24 in 2000, 13 in 2001, 25 in 2002 and 39 in 2003, while U.S. raids numbered 7,035 in 2000, 8,572 in 2001, 9,203 in 2002 and 10,051 in 2003.
Europe - primarily the Netherlands and Belgium - accounts for the bulk of methamphetamine ecstasy on the Canadian and U.S. markets.
Most steroids smuggled into the United States and Canada come from Mexico.
United States-Canada Border Drug Threat Assessment October 2004
http://www.psepc-sppcc.gc.ca/public...
Drugs & Democracy
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