By Health Authority

Information on prevalence of exhibits analysed from seized drugs by Health Authority is obtained from the Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) maintained by Health Canada’s Drug Analysis Service (DAS). LIMS is used to record the results from the chemical composition analysis of exhibits from suspected illegal substances seized by Canadian police and Canada Border Services Agency officers; LIMS does not have record of the quantity of drug seized.

It is important to note that drug enforcement activities are affected by the extent, focus and effectiveness of interception and detection activities by police and Canada Border Services Agency, which in turn has an impact the prevalence of exhibits analysed from drug seizures. These trends are not necessarily a reflection of the overall number of drug seizures or availability of certain drugs at street-level.

The Fraser region showed the highest number of marijuana and amphetamine exhibits of all the health authorities. However, for cocaine/crack cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine both the Fraser and Vancouver Coastal health authorities, the most populous health regions, had higher number of exhibits than the others.

Notes

Drug enforcement activities may vary with the extent, focus and effectiveness of interception/detection activities by police and Canada Border Services Agency which in turn has an impact on the number of exhibits analysed by DAS. As a result, exhibits analysed by DAS may not necessarily represent a one-to-one correspondence with the number of police seizures.

For more detailed information, please see data table below.