Illicit traffic and abuse of cocaine

There has been an increasing availability and abuse of cocaine in Canada in recent years. Cocaine abuse has spread from the affluent adult sectors of society to middle-income groups and the young, involving large sections of the population. The increase in illicit demand for, and the social acceptability of, cocaine has led to an increase in illicit cocaine supply. The availability of cocaine on the illicit market has been sustained by a vast over-production of the raw materials needed to produce cocaine in coca-growing areas of South America and the activities of sophisticated trafficking organizations with large operations and profits. As a result, cocaine prices at the wholesale level in South America and Canada are declining, and at the retail level in Canada have remained relatively stable or have slightly decreased. It has been estimated that more than one half of the amount of cocaine on the illicit market in Canada was illegally produced in Colombia, but the main quantities of the raw materials used for such production originated in Bolivia and Peru. Cocaine is smuggled into Canada primarily by commercial air transport, arriving at the three principal ports of entry, namely Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, from whence it is distributed to other parts of the country. As drug law enforcement efforts increase in one area, traffickers shift their illicit operations to other areas in an attempt to escape detection. Current evidence suggests that both the availability and abuse of cocaine in Canada are likely to increase in the coming years.