I would suggest that we needed something similar long before now. But that might have interfered with the relaxation of laws around hard drugs and “ safe supply “ whatever the heck that is supposed to be. The Tories today have said they would be in favour of a life sentence for traffickers of fentanyl. Sounds extreme perhaps until you consider how many thousands of people it has and is killing.
It’s a much larger problem than most people realize it would seem. When you consider that estimates of interdiction of illegal substances of all types at border crossings is approximately 10% it’s easy to extrapolate the true amount on the move and much of it is being produced right here in Canada.
Recently, several significant fentanyl operations have been dismantled in Canada:
1. Falkland, British Columbia: In November 2024, authorities dismantled what was described as the country’s largest drug laboratory. This facility had the capacity to produce approximately 96 million doses of opioids, including fentanyl. The operation involved sophisticated techniques often associated with Mexican cartels.
2. Project Odeon in Ontario: From January to July 2023, this operation led to the dismantling of multiple illegal opioid production sites in the Greater Hamilton and Toronto Area, resulting in the seizure of over 25 kg of fentanyl along with other synthetic drugs.
3. Chilliwack and Abbotsford: On February 4, 2025, a coordinated police operation dismantled a drug trafficking network, seizing 1,249 grams of fentanyl, which equates to approximately 12,490 potentially lethal doses.
These operations reflect a broader trend of increasing sophistication and scale in fentanyl production and trafficking within Canada.
