Pubdate: Mon, 12 Dec 2016
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Copyright: 2016 The Globe and Mail Company
Contact:  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/168
Author: Karen Howlett
Page: A3

CANADA MULLS GIVING BORDER GUARDS BROADER POWERS TO COMBAT ILLICIT FENTANYL

The federal government is looking at arming Canada's border guards
with broader powers to open and seize suspect packages, as a growing
volume of illicit fentanyl is smuggled into the country.

Caroline Xavier, a vice-president at the Canada Border Services
Agency, told a House of Commons committee examining the opioid crisis
that the government is reviewing the Customs Act to determine whether
restrictions that prevent guards from opening small packages should be
removed.

Currently, border guards who inspect goods coming into the country are
not authorized to open packages weighing less than 30 grams without
the consent of the recipient. They can open and inspect any package
exceeding that threshold and use detection technology to screen all
mail.

A recent report prepared by the standing committee on health called on
Ottawa to give agents the authority to search packages under 30 grams
arriving through the mail and by courier. Ms. Xavier was not available
for an interview.

Nicholas Dorion, a spokesman for the CBSA, said in an e-mail response
to questions from The Globe and Mail that the agency reviews its
operating procedures on a continuous basis to ensure that they support
national security and public safety priorities. "This includes
stopping fentanyl at the border," he said.

The agency, the first line of defence in preventing illicit goods from
entering the country, is responsible for clearing international mail.
It has made 114 seizures of fentanyl since 2014, Jacques Cloutier, an
associate vice-president at the CBSA, said at an opioid conference in
Ottawa last month. So far this year, the number of fentanyl seizures
has surpassed those for all of 2015, he said. Between May 13 and Nov.
10 of this year, the agency made 53 fentanyl seizures.

At this time, Mr. Cloutier said, most shipments of the powerful opioid
are coming from China and Hong Kong.

"I need to stress 'at this time,' " he told the conference, hosted by
federal Health Minister Jane Philpott. "As you disrupt one network,
another network appears."

The proposed Customs Act changes are under consideration as fentanyl,
a drug up to 100 times more powerful than morphine, is killing
Canadians at an alarming rate.

So far this year, at least 622 people have died of illicit drug
overdoses in British Columbia, which has become the centre of the
crisis because of its proximity to China.

As well, carfentanil, a synthetic opioid used to tranquilize large
animals that is many times more potent than fentanyl and that can be
fatal in quantities as small as a grain of salt, has been detected in
four provinces, creating a new sense of urgency.

In Ontario, Waterloo Region, Toronto and St. Thomas each sounded the
alarm last week over the detection of carfentanil in their cities.

"With something like carfentanil appearing in our community, it has
all the potential to escalate overdoses and the burden on first
responders and area hospitals," Michael Parkinson, a community
engagement co-ordinator with the Waterloo Region Crime Prevention
Council, said.

A Globe investigation this year revealed how China's chemicals
industry has helped foster a booming underground trade in fentanyl.

The drug is manufactured in China, ordered online and easily shipped
overseas by suppliers who exploit gaps at the Canadian border.

Fentanyl and many chemically similar drugs are classified as
controlled substances in Canada, making them illegal to import without
a licence or permit. But online suppliers in China devise ways to
conceal the drugs and skirt inspection rules, the investigation found.

The suppliers often ship drugs in packages under the 30-gram threshold
and conceal the fentanyl powder in silica packages placed alongside a
pack of urine test strips. Another way they avoid seizure at the
border is to gift-wrap the package or label it as household detergent
with an accompanying certificate of analysis. Once the drug arrives in
Canada, it is cut into, or made to look like, other drugs, including
cocaine, heroin or the popular prescription painkiller OxyContin,
which was removed from the Canadian market in 2012.
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