Recent trends in illicit drug trafficking from the Canadian perspective

Parts of south-west Asia where opium is illicitly produced have recently become the principal source of supply of heroin to Canada, accounting for 79 per cent of this drug on the illicit market. Heroin from parts of south-east Asia is expected, however, to regain a greater share of the market in the next few years. That may result in increased availability of heroin in Canada. The availability of cocaine has increased on the illicit market; some 57 per cent of this drug originated in Colombia in 1982. Cocaine is increasingly abused in Canada by an estimated 250,000 persons, and this trend seems likely to continue in the next few years. Cannabis plant, cannabis resin and liquid cannabis are the most readily available and widely abused illicit drugs. An illicit demand has been created for the more potent preparations of cannabis. The dramatic increase in armed robberies perpetrated by criminal groups to procure manufactured drugs is a relatively new and alarming trend. The illicit drug market in Canada is largely controlled by organized criminal syndicates.