Drug Busts Throughout Okanagan Valley

While the opioid crisis has affected people across Canada, BC has been one of the hardest hit provinces. Many news stories focus on the problems in larger cities like Vancouver, but forget that other more rural centres are in the midst of the crisis too. The Okanagan Valley, a vacation hotspot in the Interior approximately 4 hours east of Vancouver, has long been known as part of the “Coke Highway” and is a conduit for drug running across the province. However, recent coordinated RCMP efforts across districts have lead to some major drug busts, stifling the supply chain.

Recent Okanagan Drug Busts

On June 22, Vernon North Okanagan RCMP arrested a woman they believed to be linked to a drug trafficking group operating in the area. As part of this investigation RCMP executed a search warrant in the Lake Country area and found cash, 523 street-level baggies of a heroin/fentanyl mix, 457 street-level packages of crack cocaine, and 82 street-level packets of methamphetamine. The woman was found with street-level packets of drugs and a large amount of cash when she was arrested. The RCMP estimate the value of the drugs seized to be $30 000 and believe they have made a dent to the local drug trade by taking out this higher level operation.

A week later, Penticton RCMP’s Targeted Enforcement Unit seized a “significant quantity” of various drugs, as well as a handgun in Summerland. A man at the scene was arrested, and charged with three counts of trafficking in controlled substances and two firearms offenses.

These police raids are welcomed by the area as many families have already lost loved ones to opioid overdoses. In fact, Kelowna leads the entire country in opioid-related hospitalizations. According to 2016-2017 data, Kelowna had 37.9 out of 100 000 people hospitalized due to opioid poisoning. By comparison Vancouver, considered one of the most problematic areas, only had 20.

 

References:

• Police Arrest One, Find $30k Worth of Drugs in North Okanagan Bust
• Police Nab Drugs, Firearms
• Kelowna Tops Canada for Rate of Opioid Hospitalizations

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