Statistics Canada says the rate of police-reported drug crime is up for the first time in 12 years, while remaining well below its peak in 2011.

It says there was a 13 per cent national increase between 2023 and 2024, partly due to increases in possession and trafficking charges involving cannabis, cocaine and opioids other than heroin.

The national police-reported drug crime rate of 128 per 100,000 population is still more than 61 per cent down from a "historic peak" of 330 per 100,000 population recorded in 2011.

The agency says the Northwest Territories had the highest drug crime rate in 2024, with 2,591 incidents per 100,000 population, more than quadruple the next highest rate in Yukon and more than ten times the rate in British Columbia.

Vancouver had the highest rate of increase

See Full Page