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Illicit Drugs
Methamphetamine
Overview of Criminal Activity
Methamphetamine use is on the increase in many parts of the country, but primarily in Western Canada.The bulk of this methamphetamine is manufactured domestically in Canada in small clandestine laboratories, though larger operations capable of producing 4.54 kg or more in one production cycle have been encountered occasionally. Given that pseudoephedrine (PSE), an essential ingredient in the manufacture of methamphetamine, is available in over the counter medications (in pharmacies and over the Internet) several provincial governments have taken steps to limit their availability. Organized crime groups involved in the illicit methamphetamine industry include outlaw motorcycle gangs, specific Asian crime groups, and independent organized crime groups.
Negative Socio-economic Effects
The overall impacts of the illicit drug trade are varied and substantive affecting individuals and their communities.While many of these negative effects may be difficult to quantify, their harm is real and substantive. In general terms, the illicit drug trade has impacts on a user’s health; brings about additional medical costs; demands greater law enforcement resources; and may incite conflict and violence between users and organized crime groups; in addition to negatively affecting family and friends. Moreover, in order to feed their habits, addicts can commit a number of petty and serious crimes such as robbery and assault, break-and-enters, the sale of stolen property and prostitution.
Each illicit drug has a combination of side effects that bring about both a physical and psychological dependence.A tolerance can be developed from addictive drugs, such as methamphetamine, that may force the user to acquire larger doses and/or use with greater frequency in attempts to experience what they believed were the positive effects of the drug. Injected drugs, such as cocaine and heroin, may enhance the risk of various blood-borne infections (eg. HIV/AIDS; hepatitis B and C), scarred or collapsed veins, infection of the heart lining and valves, abscesses, pneumonia, tuberculosis, and liver and kidney disease.Although ecstasy is not known to create physical dependency, health-related side effects including dehydration or hyperthermia have occurred while using the drug at raves and dances, leading to death due to kidney failure and heart attack.
Health risks are heightened due to the unpredictability of ingredients within illicit drugs. As a result, consumers do not always know the actual contents of the illicit drug they have purchased nor the purity level of the drug.Their intended drug purchase could be laced with other illicit drugs and/or chemicals or contaminated by fungi or moulds.An unknown drug combination can cause serious adverse affects, including death.Aside from these medical problems, illicit drug users can also encounter serious legal problems, such as a criminal sentence and subsequent record, which could affect their future employment and travel opportunities.
The manufacturing of illicit drugs, specifically synthetic drugs and marihuana, pose threats to public safety and to law enforcement and the health services sector, as well as certain environmental risks. For instance, the chemicals used in the manufacture of methamphetamine are hazardous with some being highly volatile and at risk to ignite or explode if mixed or stored improperly.Any resultant fire or explosion not only harms the individuals involved with at the laboratory but also the neighbouring area, its inhabitants and visitors.
Exposure to the toxic chemicals used in the manufacture of methamphetamine could cause intoxication, dizziness, nausea, disorientation, lack of coordination, pulmonary edema, serious respiratory problems, severe chemical burns, and damage to internal organs. Methamphetamine production also threatens the environment as a typical laboratory may produce 2.3 kg to 3.2 kg of toxic waste for every one pound of methamphetamine produced.The improper disposal of this toxic waste could cause contamination of the soil and any nearby water supplies.
”The relative isolation of our province, offers no protection from the activities of organized crime which dominate the local and provincial drug trade and fuels other criminal activity across Newfoundland and Labrador. Organized crime profits, at society's expense.” RCMP Assistant Commissioner |
Marihuana grow operations pose a number of health and safety risks to the occupants of the residences in which cultivation occurs, to their neighbours and surrounding community.The health risks are linked to the increased fire hazard these grow houses represent to themselves and their neighbours.A recent study of grow operations in B.C. concluded that a fire was 24 times more likely to occur in a grow house than in an ordinary dwelling largely because of the unsafe electrical diversions or bypasses many grow operators use to circumvent utility meters in order to steal electricity.They are also linked to the moulds which result from the intense humidity and chemicals used in indoor marihuana grow operations. Homes that have housed grow operations often require great effort and expense to rid them of the moulds and other residues which would otherwise make them unsafe to live in.
In terms of safety risks, neighbours and grow house operators run the risk of being victimized in a “grow rip”, which occur when a rival group or individuals violently steal a mature crop. Grow rips can entail assaults, kidnappings and the use of weapons including firearms. Safety issues are also linked to the occasional use of booby traps by grow house operators seeking to protect themselves from potential thieves.
