Maclean's, Canada's national news magazine, did an investigation in which they found a legal quirk that bars the police from searching through packages that are sent via Canada Post.
As a result, Canada Post has become a dominant choice for criminals shipping fentanyl and other types of drugs into the country.
By observing and contacting a couple of vendors on the dark web, Maclean's got confirmation that the vendors wouldn't ship via a courier service, which points to the fact that they are aware of the decreased investigative powers from the police for the packages that are being sent by standard mail.
Shipping Fentanyl & Other Drugs to Buyers' Doorsteps
Dark web marketplaces often offer customers a chance to have drugs shipped to their own doorsteps, rather than a post office box or drop address.
Buyers can leave reviews and star ratings, while the sellers promote the purity and quality of the drugs on their vendor page.
A 24-year-old buyer from London, Ontario told Maclean's that although some of the vendors offer private courier services at high prices, they always have Canada Post as the base option.
Despite the fact that it isn't a 100 percent effective way to beat the cops, he claims it works 99.9999999 percent of the time.
While it sounds like a slight exaggeration to say it works 99.9999999 percent of the time, the police say that drug dealers are sending enormous amounts of drugs through the mail undiscovered.
Canada's opioid crisis has taken the lives of more than 9,000 people in the country between January 2016 and June 2018, according to a report from the Public Health Agency of Canada.
The ongoing opioid-related fatality count is greater than any other public health crisis Canada had faced since the Spanish flu epidemic that killed 50,000 people a century ago.
The statistics of fatal overdoses even surpass the amount of AIDS deaths in Canada, according to the Canadian Minister of Health.
The limitation that prohibits the police from searching packages sent through Canada Post does not deal with UPS and FedEx, because they are private mail companies.
When the police ask a postal inspector to review the packages, it is only done on an individual basis, and even if the police have reasonable cause to suspect criminal activity, they cannot get a warrant to obstruct mail before it is delivered.
Changing the Legal Regulations
Despite the consensus on changing the legal regulation that currently sustains Canada's opioid crisis from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the Canada Border Services Agency, the Liberal Party of Canada has not yet presented any progress in closing this legal gap.
Mike Serr, chair of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police Drug Advisory Committee and chief of the Abbotsford Police Department, stated that he hasn't been given a clear reason why Canada Post has resisted getting new authorities that are alike to those other companies have.
The spokesperson for Canada Post, Jon Hamilton, said that they have a well-established practice in place to take care of any issues, with a team of postal inspectors that work hand in hand with police across the country.
He also explained that the chance of drugs or any dangerous items being imported into the country through the mail is very small.