FROM B.C. BUD TO 'BUDDER' AND 'CHEESE': DRUG TRADE KEEPS GROWING

Organized crime is fuelling the drug trade in Canada, with
increasingly sophisticated gangs branching out to produce more potent
and lethal drugs with names like "budder" and "cheese," an RCMP
intelligence report reveals.

And at the centre is British Columbia, a production and transshipment
hub in the worldwide trade in illegal drugs, says the head of criminal
analysis for the RCMP's Pacific region.

According to the RCMP's Drug Situation Report 2006, released
yesterday, criminal organizations have grown from one-drug shops into
sophisticated multi-commodity trafficking rings.

This includes new techniques and the blending of drugs to make them
more potent or addictive, the report notes. In particular, police are
concerned about two new innovations: "budder"and "cheese."

Budder, which emerged in Vancouver in 2004, is made by whipping air
into hashish oil and freezing it. It has THC levels ranging from 82
per cent to 99.6 per cent and is much more potent when smoked than
regular marijuana. THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) is the psychoactive
substance in the cannabis plant.

Cheese -- described as a concoction of heroin and nighttime cold
medicine -- is being blamed for more than a dozen deaths, mostly
teenagers, in the U.S. It is inexpensive to make and easier than
heroin to smoke or snort rather than inject.

The cannabis market, which includes marijuana and hashish, is
flourishing in Canada, according to the RCMP report.

Statistics Canada however, reported a decrease of four per cent in
cannabis-related offences in 2006. The RCMP study said there has been
a decline of pot seizures in B.C. since 2003 but that numbers in
Ontario and Quebec remain stable. Those three provinces are
responsible for 90 per cent of the marijuana grown in Canada.

The report noted emerging trends in 2006 in the marijuana market.
Among them, it found that crime groups are producing more potent
marijuana and that there's a shift toward using private aircraft for
smuggling between B.C. and the U.S.

B.C.'s long-established marijuana economy has created networks now
used to expand the trade in other drugs, making the province a
trafficking hub, adds Allan Castle, the head of criminal analysis for
the RCMP's Pacific region. The same qualities that make the Vancouver
area a centre for international trade in legitimate goods are now
enriching criminals who trade in illegal products, he said, noting the
multi-ethnic population provides links around the world.