U.S. identifies fentanyl superlabs in Canada as a 'growing concern'
EDMONTON — With fentanyl smuggling cited by U.S. President Donald Trump as a central motivation behind tariffs slapped on Canadian goods, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency has listed fentanyl “super laboratories” in Canada as a “growing concern” to American authorities.
“These operations have the potential to expand and fill any supply void created by disruptions to Mexico-sourced fentanyl production and trafficking,” the report says.
On Thursday, the DEA released its 2025 report detailing threats posed to the United States by illegal drugs and the actions of drug traffickers and cartels. Between October 2023 and October 2024, more than 84,000 Americans died from drug overdoses.
In addition to noting Canada’s production of fentanyl, the report covers the actions of major Mexican drug cartels and China’s role in exporting the ingredients needed to manufacture fentanyl in North America.
While the report doesn’t specify the precise drug bust it was referring to, in late October, the RCMP broke up the “largest and most sophisticated fentanyl and methamphetamine drug superlab in Canada,” which was in Falkland, B.C., a community between Kamloops and Kelowna, and is otherwise known for hosting one of the largest Canadian flags.
The RCMP said the lab could have produced 95 million doses of fentanyl. Investigators seized 54 kilograms of fentanyl, “massive amounts of precursor chemicals,” and hundreds of kilograms in other drugs, including methamphetamine, cocaine and MDMA, better known as ecstasy.
Police also found 89 guns, including 45 handguns, 21 “Ar-15-style rifles” and submachine guns. Nine of the weapons were stolen.
The data on drugs flowing from Canada to the United States show that while there are drugs flowing north to south, the overwhelming majority of drugs smuggled into the U.S. come from the southwestern border with Mexico. In 2024, U.S. border officials seized 21,000 kilograms of fentanyl, 158,000 kilograms of methamphetamine and more than 56,000 kilograms of cannabis.
By comparison, American authorities seized 43 kilograms of fentanyl and 72 kilograms of heroin flowing from Canada to the United States in 2024, statistics from U.S. Customs and Border Protection show. So far in 2025, 26 kilograms of fentanyl have been seized, as has less than one kilo of heroin. Rates of cannabis smuggling are far higher: nearly 7,000 kilograms were seized last year, and this year more than 2,500 kilograms have been seized.
Additionally, more than 2,000 kilograms of cocaine have been seized at the northern border this year.
National Post asked the RCMP for comment on the DEA’s threat assessment, but the agency was unable to provide comment by press time. Public Safety Canada referred the Post’s inquiry to the Privy Council Office, where Canada’s new fentanyl czar, Kevin Brosseau, a former Mountie and national security adviser to the Prime Minister’s Office, works.
The DEA declined to comment on the report, but noted that Canada has been mentioned in previous threat assessments. Canada received no mention in the 2024 report, but in 2020, Canada was identified as a major source of high-quality cannabis. The report also identified Indigenous reserves on both sides of the border as significant routes for drug smuggling.
Prime Minister Mark Carney and U.S. Vice President JD Vance, both in Rome for the Pope’s inaugural mass on Sunday, discussed border security, a crackdown on fentanyl and increased investments in defence, the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement.
Carney said on X he had a “good conversation” with Vance.
“Canada and the United States share a common goal of saving lives and protecting communities from the devastating impacts of the illegal fentanyl trade,” said Pierre-Alain Bujold, a spokesperson with Canada’s Privy Council Office, in an email. “Canadian law enforcement agencies at all levels — municipal, provincial, and federal — are focused on dismantling organized crime networks and shutting down illegal drug production operations.”
I had a good conversation with Vice President JD Vance while in Rome.
— Mark Carney (@MarkJCarney) May 18, 2025
We spoke about building a new economic and security relationship between Canada and the United States — one that addresses immediate trade pressures, strengthens our defence cooperation, and… pic.twitter.com/wTjStCLoqa
In February, Trump declared a state of emergency on his country’s northern border, using that to justify the imposition of tariffs on Canadian imports.
“I determined that the failure of Canada to arrest, seize, detain, or otherwise intercept drug trafficking organizations, other drug and human traffickers, criminals at large, and illicit drugs constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat, which has its source in substantial part outside the United States, to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States,” the president said in a press release .
In response to Trump’s comments on fentanyl made last year before the emergency declaration, Ottawa amped up drug-enforcement along the border. The federal government announced a $1.3-billion border security plan, including appointing Brosseau as fentanyl czar and starting aerial patrols and a special intelligence unit to track down precursor chemicals. The government says that a 56-per-cent increase in the number of RCMP officers and targeted enforcement operations by Canada Border Services Agency officials have increased the number of investigations.
A further crackdown on fentanyl trafficking within Canada, the federal government says, has taken 46 kilograms of fentanyl, and 15,765 fentanyl and other opioid pills off Canadian streets .
“The DEA report reinforces what we already know — the fight against fentanyl must be relentless, coordinated, and evidence-based. Canada will continue working closely with our U.S. counterparts to secure our shared borders and safeguard our communities,” said Bujold.
National Post, with additional reporting by The Canadian Press
Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here.