CANADA TRAFFICKING MORE ILLICIT DRUGS: UN

Canada has emerged as an increasingly important exporter and transit
point for illicit drugs -and partly to blame is the
"easy-to-penetrate" border, a senior drugs-monitoring official warned
Wednesday at the United Nations.

The statement by Melvyn Levitsky of the International Narcotics
Control Board comes as Canada is working to resist demands by some
members of the U.S. Congress to apply ever-increasing checks along the border.

"The Canadian government and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police have
done a good professional job [in combating drug trafficking], but the
market in the United States is a big one, and the border is a
peaceful border which is relatively easy to penetrate," Mr. Levitsky said.

He stopped short of calling for tighter border security, but said
"remaining vigilant" and resisting "pressure to cut [anti-illicit]
drug and related budgets" was essential.

Canada's latest standing in the international league of illicit
drug-trafficking countries is detailed in the North American section
of INCB's 2010 annual report, which Mr. Levitsky presented at a news
conference.

It says Canada is self-sufficient in illicit cannabis production, but
also provides the United States with a "significant amount" of
home-grown cannabis, some of which is traded for "cocaine and other
contraband, such as firearms and tobacco."

Canada also supplies a "significant share" of the international
market for methamphetamine, known as meth or crystal meth. And it
continues to be a "major source" internationally of MDMA, a party
drug also known as Ecstasy.

Beyond production, INCB says Canada is "increasingly being used as a
transit country for cocaine."

"Criminal groups are smuggling cocaine into Canada, mainly through
Mexico and the United States, to be sold on the illicit market in
Canada or shipped overseas."