ILLICIT DRUGS AND CRIME IN CANADA
n Although the overall rate of police-reported drug offences has increased 12 % since 1993, the long-term trend has generally remained stable over the past 15 years. It must be noted that trends in drug offences are directly influenced by levels of police enforcement. n After a ten-year decline, the...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Text |
| Language: | English |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.532.7753 http://data.library.utoronto.ca/datapub/codebooks/cstdli/justice/2001/illicit_drug_j_e.pdf |
| Summary: | n Although the overall rate of police-reported drug offences has increased 12 % since 1993, the long-term trend has generally remained stable over the past 15 years. It must be noted that trends in drug offences are directly influenced by levels of police enforcement. n After a ten-year decline, the rate of cannabis offences has increased by 34 % since 1991. Conversely, the rate of cocaine offences increased between 1981 and 1989, but has dropped by 36 % since 1989. The rate of heroin offences also increased for a number of years, peaking in 1993, and then falling 25 % over the last four years. n Cannabis-supply offences (trafficking, importing and cultivation) increased for the fourth consecutive year in 1997, partially driven by an increase in cultivation offences. Cannabis-possession offences increased steadily from 1991 to 1996, but dropped slightly in 1997. n Cannabis offences continue to account for the majority of all drug offences. More than 7 in 10 drug offences reported in 1997 involved cannabis. Two-thirds of cannabis offences were for simple possession. n British Columbia continued to show the highest rate (426 offences per 100,000 population) of drug offences in 1997, almost twice the national average. However, when examining only the number of persons charged with drug offences, the rate for British Columbia was only 41 % greater than the national average. Newfoundland reported the lowest rate (132) of drug offences for the second year in a row. |
|---|