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Illicit Drugs
The Canadian illicit drug market is dynamic and diverse, involving a wide range of drugs
from domestic and foreign sources. These drugs are distributed across the country by criminal groups operating at all levels of capability and scope. Approximately 80% of crime groups identified in Canada are involved in the illicit drug market, particularly as street-level traffickers. A smaller proportion of crime groups are involved in the more complex aspects of the illicit drug market, such as marihuana cultivation, synthetic drug production, importation from source countries or wholesale distribution.
Marihuana is both the most consumed and most produced illicit drug in Canada, involving a wide range of crime groups and generating significant illicit profits. It is cultivated in large quantities across the country, particularly in British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec, often in large-scale grow operations.
Cocaine also continues to be in high demand in most areas of the country, particularly major urban centres. As there is no domestic source, it is smuggled either directly from source countries in South America, or through transit countries in the Caribbean, Mexico and the United States. Cocaine is distributed primarily by organized crime groups capable of wholesale distribution with higher criminal capabilities, such as some Asian, Italian, or independent criminal groups as well as several Hells Angels chapters.
Heroin is smuggled into Canada from source countries in southeast and southwest Asia and South America for wholesale 
distribution by a variety of independent and Asian organized crime groups. These groups are frequently connected by cultural and familial ties and use smaller networks to distribute the drug across Canada.
Organized crime is involved in the importation of chemical ingredients for the manufacture of synthetic drugs, particularly ecstasy and methamphetamine, which are then distributed across Canada , and sometimes into the U.S.
Methamphetamine production and distribution are particularly evident in B.C. and the Prairies. Significant quantities of ecstasy produced in Canada are smuggled to the United States and, to a lesser extent, to Pacific Rim countries such as Japan and Australia.
Communities across Manitoba are discovering that there is a very real link between minor property crimes in rural and urban communities and major organized crime. Drug addicts break into homes and cars to feed habits driven and encouraged by criminal gangs doing a multi-million dollar business. RCMP Assistant Commissioner |
The use of crack cocaine and methamphetamine varies across Canada but both appear to occupy only “niche” markets with a limited consumer base.
