US-Canada Border Poses Fentanyl Concern

The U.S. appears to have another border to focus on in its challenge to stop fentanyl from entering the country.

The migrant crisis at the southern border has resulted in U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) personnel seizing 860% more fentanyl compared to 2019, ABC News reported early last month.

Now, The Washington Post reports that fentanyl labs in Canada could worsen the opioid epidemic in the U.S.

U.S. officials say they have little indication that Canadian-made fentanyl is being smuggled south in significant quantities. However, Canadian investigators say the labs are producing fentanyl for domestic users and for export.

“It’d be hard to believe it’s not occurring,” Philip Heard, commander of the organized crime unit for police in Vancouver, British Columbia, said of fentanyl being exported, the Post reported.

“Most police leaders I’ve spoken to believe our production outstrips what our domestic demand is.”

An increase in fentanyl coming across the northern border would challenge CBP. Nearly all of the roughly $800 million worth of powerful scanning and detection equipment installed at crossings since 2019 has been along the U.S.-Mexico border, the Post reported.

The U.S.-Canada border, which at more than 5,500 miles is the longest international boundary between two nations in the world, is relatively lightly patrolled and has few physical barriers.

CBP statistics show that the agency seized just two pounds of fentanyl at the north border in fiscal year 2023.

Daniel Anson, director of intelligence and investigations at the Canada Border Services Agency, estimated that 98% of Canada’s fentanyl-making materials are seized in the country’s western part and originate in China.

Based on fewer seizures at maritime ports, Anson said smugglers may be increasingly using mislabeled packages sent through mail and courier services to get precursor chemicals into Canada.

“Canada is struggling with the precursor chemicals,” Anson told the Post.

He added that he also believes Canada has become a fentanyl-exporting nation.

“It’s pretty easy to move small amounts of precursors and still produce large amounts of fentanyl,” Anson said.

The Canadian labs – mostly linked to biker gangs and Asian groups – are synthesizing the drug using precursor chemicals sourced primarily from China, the Post reported. Chemical companies and Chinese brokers supply the raw ingredients.

Carnegie Mellon University professor Jonathan P. Caulkins said it makes sense that Canadian criminal groups have created their own labs.

“Canada has its own domestic market — and if you’re trying to supply the market, there’s no reason why you would want to start in Mexico and go through the United States to get to Canada because the United States has very tough law enforcement,” Caulkins said, the Post reported.

Fentanyl, an intensely addictive synthetic opioid, claims more than 70,000 lives a year in the U.S.

CBP confiscated nearly a record 27,000 pounds of fentanyl during the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30.