Pubdate: Mon, 06 Aug 2007
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Copyright: 2007, The Globe and Mail Company
Contact:  http://www.globeandmail.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/168
Author: Steve Rennie, Canadian Press
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)

RCMP WARN OF HEROIN THREAT

Drug Produced In Afghanistan 'Increasingly Ending Up' In Canada, 
Documents Reveal

The Mounties have warned at least two federal agencies that Afghan 
heroin is "increasingly" making its way to Canada and poses a direct 
threat to the public despite millions of dollars from Ottawa to fund 
the war-torn country's counternarcotics efforts, newly released 
documents reveal.

"The RCMP informs us that Afghan heroin is increasingly ending up on, 
or is destined for Canadian streets," say Foreign Affairs and Defence 
Department briefings, obtained separately by The Canadian Press under 
the Access to Information Act.

The Afghan-produced heroin "directly threatens" Canadians, say the 
identically worded briefings.

Paul Nadeau, the director of the RCMP's drug branch in Ottawa, said 
about 60 per cent of the heroin on Canadian streets comes from Afghanistan.

"Keep in mind, though, that when we seize it, it doesn't have a stamp 
on it that says where it came from," he said.

Rather, it's the investigative tracing of smuggling routes that 
reveals the drug's country of origin.

Until a few years ago, most heroin came from an opium-producing 
region in Southeast Asia called the "golden triangle," a mountainous 
area of around 350,000 square kilometres overlapping Myanmar, Laos, 
Vietnam and Thailand.

In recent years, organized crime groups from Southeast Asia have 
taken to trafficking synthetic drugs, such as ecstasy, which have 
more users - and more profitability - than heroin, Mr. Nadeau said.

New traffickers, who Mr. Nadeau said are often, but not always, of 
Indian origin, have stepped in, bringing with them new shipping methods.

The Southeast Asian traffickers were notorious for brazen heroin 
shipments, sometimes totalling up to 100 kilograms a haul. The new 
traffickers typically prefer smaller, but more frequent, shipments, 
Mr. Nadeau said. The strategy, it seems, is akin to throwing as much 
as possible against the wall to see what sticks.

"It seems to be involving the classic couriers, suitcases at the 
airport; smaller amounts but, no doubt, more shipments coming in," he said.

Roughly 92 per cent of the world's heroin comes from opium poppies 
grown in Afghanistan, according to the 2007 World Drug Report, 
released in June by the United Nations Office on Drugs.

Afghan heroin typically flows into Canada through two main 
trafficking arteries, Mr. Nadeau said: via the porous border between 
Afghanistan and Pakistan, and then on to India and, finally, Canada; 
and, from Afghanistan to western Africa, then through the United 
States into Canada.

The Foreign Affairs and Defence Department briefings differ on the 
windfall that opium production and trafficking yields in Afghanistan, 
estimating it is equivalent to between 25 and 60 per cent of the 
Afghan economy.

Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Ambra Dickie said Ottawa has pledged 
about $57-million to fund Afghan counternarcotics efforts, including 
an $18.5-million program to promote alternate livelihoods in the 
country's volatile Kandahar province, where Canadian troops are stationed.

Afghanistan's swelling opium crop might lower heroin's street value 
in Canada, Mr. Nadeau said, adding he doubts more people will start 
using heroin because it's cheaper and there's more of it.

"Heroin is not what it used to be. There's a certain stigma attached 
to it from the user population," he said. "But it's definitely a 
problem in certain major centres."

The Foreign Affairs briefing concedes there's no quick fix to 
Afghanistan's drug quandary: "There are no simple solutions to a 
problem that has taken decades to develop."

The RCMP says it seized 60 kilograms of heroin in Canada in 2003, 77 
kilograms in 2004, and 83 kilograms in 2005.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom