As Canada tightens up its borders to appease the U.S., experts are worried it could lead to more drug poisonings across Ontario.
In an earlier interview, chief executive officer of the Guelph Community Health Centre Melissa Kwiatkowski expressed concern about Canada’s increased border security, noting that historically tighter security coincides with increased drug toxicity.
It’s something Wellington Guelph Drug Strategy manager Jean Hopkins said they will be closely monitoring in the coming months to see how the community is impacted.
“We know that unregulated substances are always potentially toxic, but when the supply is disrupted, it can lead to increased harms,” she said.
“For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, restrictions from the global supply chain contributed to increased availability of fentanyl and other synthetic opioids. We know that this has made the drug supply in our community, and across the country, increasingly potent and unpredictable.”
Though Justin Trudeau has said Canada accounts for less than one per cent of illegal crossings into the United States, in response to criticism from U.S. president Donald Trump the feds launched a plan with more than $1.3 billion going to security and monitoring at the border, as well as targeting organized crime.
Since then, Canada has appointed a fentanyl czar, listed cartels as terrorist entities and added round-the-clock border surveillance (including new surveillance towers, high res cameras, chemical analysis detention instruments, drug sniffing dogs and more) .
Ontario, likewise, launched Operation Deterrence in January, involving provincial police resources conducting “highly visible activities to crack down on illegal cross-border activity.”
But cracking down on drug trafficking without addressing the demand for drugs brings with it complications.
“Broadly speaking, we can pretty confidently state that drug seizures or drug busts generally are associated with a higher potency and toxicity of the unregulated drug supply, which in turn, contributes to increased overdoses and overdose fatalities,” said Nicole Luongo, a systems change analyst with the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition.
There are a few reasons for that, including the “iron law of prohibition.”
In other words, the harder we enforce, the harder the drugs become.
Since the measures can make it harder to traffic drugs, distributors and manufacturers respond by making those drugs harder to detect or track, she said.
They do that by using stronger drugs that can be shipped in lower quantities to evade detection at the border, she said.
“Producers basically respond by adding new adulterants. The emergence of xylazine is an example of that,” she said. “With stronger drugs, you can ship them in smaller quantities for the same effect.”
For example, she referenced a drug bust that took place in British Columbia’s Campbell River last February, where police claimed to seize fentanyl and hydromorphone pills.
Not long after, the rates of overdoses went up and the local health unit put out an alert warning the community of toxic drug supply.
Locally, Hopkins noted the border measures are coinciding at a time when a lot of resources are being taken away.
“We know that having access to a wide range of tools is crucial right now. This includes drug testing options, such as the Scatr drug testing machine, currently located at the Guelph CHC,” she said.
The Scatr machine is free and anonymous to use, and can test a small amount of a substance to provide information about what it contains.
Whether the machine will still be available after the CTS site closes down March 31 is unclear right now.
“Partners are working hard to meet the needs of community members, but need is increasing, and the drug supply remains unpredictable and toxic,” Hopkins said.
The most recent report from Toronto's Drug Checking Service, which often reflects the local supply in Guelph and Wellington County, showed a significant increase in the number of expected fentanyl samples that contained a veterinary tranquilizer, with 55 per cent of samples containing xylazine and 36 per cent containing medetomidine – the largest number of veterinary tranquilizer since they were first detected in 2020.
“This is especially concerning when there are transitions taking place with substance use services in Guelph. We are losing access to a life-saving service in our community through the mandated CTS closure, and there are uncertainties about when the HART hub will be fully operational.”
Luongo agreed, noting that “it’s fairly safe to predict with some certainty that rates of public overdose will increase, because nothing is being done to address the systemic drivers of illegal drug use. There’s nothing being done to reduce demand for drugs, so rates of drug consumption will not change.”
She added that cracking down on trafficking doesn’t actually do much.
“Whenever a criminal group is intervened or infiltrated, another one immediately takes its place.”
More often than not, she said the initiatives don’t target high level drug traffickers part of the transnational network.
Instead, they often end up targeting middle and low-level drug sellers who are engaged in subsistence trafficking and are themselves impoverished users who are trying to stay afloat and fund their own drug use.
“So if we actually have the goal of producing healthier, more equitable, safer communities, we need to be investing in those resources that reduce poverty, that give people the ability and rationale for participating fully in social life, that take away the incentives to use drugs in a chaotic way.”
– with files from the Canadian Press