Crime Trends in BC

Why has British Columbia consistently had high rates of police-reported drug offenses?

British Columbia has, for the past 30 years, had one of the highest rates of drug offenses in the country. In BC, Vancouver and Victoria are the cities with particularly high rates. Part of the reason for BC’s high involvement in drug related crime could be its location. The Golden Triangle refers to the land in Southeast Asia that has been the second largest producer of heroin and opium in the world (the first is Afghanistan). This makes the west coast an ideal way of shipping in products. Shipping from the east coast of Asia to the west coast of Canada cuts out land travel that would bring more risk of getting apprehended. Higher rates in big cities like Victoria and Vancouver are likely due to a higher volume of people living in the city and more people living on the streets than in smaller cities.

This story “‘Staggering amount of fentanyl’ drug bust lands Richmond man in prison” reports the arrest of a man with almost 14kg of fentanyl and analogues. His arrest was thought to have saved the lives of many by preventing the fentanyl he had from being laced into other drugs. This story relates to my theory as to why British Columbia has such a high rate in drug related offenses. The fentanyl that was seized from him was being imported from China and delivered to different mailboxes throughout the Vancouver area. British Columbia is often the place where drugs enter Canada, from there they are distributed throughout the country. This means that if the offenders are caught before the drugs can be distributed, they are caught in British Columbia, which raises the amount of drug related offenses there.