Organized crime shifting to domestic fentanyl production: RCMP

Organized crime groups have begun making more fentanyl in Canada rather than importing it from abroad, the RCMP says.

According to James Cooke, who works in the RCMP’s Organized Crime Unit, the shift began in 2019, following a halt in production from overseas markets.

The drug’s compound precursors also became controlled substances in Canada in 2023.

“The synthesis of fentanyl is relatively complex, when it comes to the importation of chemicals,” Cooke told CTV’s Your Morning on Monday.

“They do have legitimate uses – some are controlled or regulated by Health Canada, but others are certainly not – and pose significant challenges for law enforcement to be able to enforce their movement across borders and then their movement once they get into a country.”

Fentanyl is an opioid that, when prescribed, is often used to treat pain. However, the drug can be abused and sometimes results in death.

The government of Canada has long called the overdose crisis one of the most serious public health crises in the country. In a June 28, 2024, statement, it says that: “Powerful drugs like fentanyl, and other emerging synthetic opioids are flooding the illegal drug supply and resulting in an increase in harms and death. No community has been left untouched.”

The statement at the time said there have been more than 44,500 deaths in Canada related to opioids such as fentanyl since 2016. In 2023, opioid-related deaths averaged 22 people a day.

That same year, 82 per cent of all opioid toxicity deaths involved fentanyl – a rate that is up 44 per cent since 2016 when surveillance began, but has since stabilized, according to Health Canada.

Cooke said that, currently, Canada does not have a significant export issue when it comes to fentanyl.

Any amount that is exported, he said, is small and oftentimes delivered by mail.

Data released by the federal government shows that in the 2023-24 fiscal year, the Canada Border Services Agency seized 946 grams of fentanyl. The year prior, roughly 3,750 grams were confiscated, and in 2021-22 just over 550 grams were seized.

Collectively, from 2018-2021, the agency seized more than 15,500 grams of fentanyl at the border.

“Law enforcement continues to tackle transnational organized crime wherever it exists, whether it’s in the fentanyl market, whether it’s in other commodities,” Cooke said. “Our focus is on those who are profiting, those who are moving controlled substances across borders, or trafficking them domestically.”

With files from CTV’s Lindsey Deluce