Emerging Trends in Drug Seizures Information from the Drug Analysis Service DAS

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Emerging Trends in Drug Seizures Information
from the Drug Analysis Service (DAS)
Krista Richard Office of Research and
Surveillance Drug Strategy and Controlled
Substances Programme Health Canada May 6, 2008
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• Objective To illustrate the usefulness of an
  existing administrative data source from Health
  Canadas Drug Analysis Service (DAS) for analytic
  purposes, as part of a comprehensive national
  monitoring system for illicit drugs.
• Presentation
• Background on the Drug Analysis Service and its
  database.
• Examples of analyses afforded by the data.
• Limitations and caveats to the data
• Complementary initiatives and activities related
  to the DAS data.

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The Drug Analysis Service (DAS)

• DAS is mandated to provide laboratory analysis
  services in support of the work conducted by
  Canadian police forces, customs officials, and
  Health Canada divisions.
• Working with samples of substances seized, DAS
  confirms the identity, and in some cases, the
  relative portions of controlled substances in the
  samples. DAS issues certificates of analysis
  that are used as evidence in Canadian courts.
• The Programme currently has 4 regional drug
  analysis laboratories (Burnaby, Toronto,
  Winnipeg, Montreal) which record results of
  their analyses in a common Laboratory Information
  Management System.
• Data are available in LIMS from January 1988 to
  the present.

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DAS Data What can it Tell Us?

• Prevalence of the various types of substances
  seized in different areas across the country and
  at different points in time.
• Trend analysis over time
• Changing patterns, emergence and decline of
  various substances
• Comparisons between regions, between provinces,
  and versus national trends.
• Analyses of drug adulterations and purity of
  samples.
• What is suspected versus what actually is found
• Corroboration of findings from other sources.

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Most Prevalent Drugs Seized in Canada
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Top Drugs Seized in Canada 1988- 2007
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Cannabis Seizures
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Cocaine Seizures
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Heroin Seizures
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MDMA (Ecstasy) Seizures
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Methamphetamine Seizures
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HallucinogensPhencyclidine (PCP), Psilocybin
(Magic Mushrooms) and Lysergic Acid Diethylamide
(LSD) Seizures
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What do the data tell us?

• While the data must be interpreted with care, the
  DAS database is an important source of
  information on illicit drug trends in Canada,
  permitting a range of analyses, including
• Identification of illicit substances which are in
  the illicit drug market
• The number and distribution of drugs seizures by
  type, by region, by time
• Shares of national or provincial totals
• Extent and nature of adulteration for various
  substances

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Caveats

• Additional research is needed to determine the
  extent to which the trends in the DAS data differ
  from actual trends in illicit drug use, because
• The incidence of drug seizures varies with the
  extent, focus and effectiveness of
  interception/detection activities by police and
  border services.
• The data under-estimate the total number of
  illicit drug seizures, since they exclude guilty
  pleas and non-case seizures.
• The quantity of drugs seized in each case is not
  recorded in LIMS.
• The full range of controlled substances found in
  a sample may not be captured in the LIMS
  database.

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Complementary Initiatives

• To fill information gaps in the DAS data, other
  lines of evidence are being explored
• Expanded Sampling in sentinel sites analyses of
  non-case seizures
• Analysis of CDSD databases
• Quantities of drugs seized by type
• Disposition of case versus type of drug seized
• Forgery Information
• Loss/Theft reports

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Contact Information

• Krista Richard
• krista_richard_at_hc-sc.gc.ca
• 613-948-8952
• Office of Research and Surveillance Drug
  Strategy and Controlled Substances Programme
• Healthy Environments and Consumer Safety Branch
• Health Canada
• 123 Slater Street, A.L. 3509C
• Ottawa, ON K1A 1B9