Marijuana use in New Brunswick
New Brunswick's drug trade is on the rise, sparked by a rising number of marijuana growing operations, a new report on organized crime.
The report, the first public one released by the Criminal Intelligence Service New Brunswick, also shows that New Brunswick has one of the country's highest rates of fraud.
In the year of 2003, for example, 200 New Brunswickers were victims of identity theft, where criminals gain access to personal and banking information to drain accounts and run up big credit card bills. The losses totalled $261,000, the report said.
The capital city of Fredericton saw a 43-per-cent increase in fraud cases for 2003 over the previous three-year average, and Miramichi's numbers rose 60 per cent compared to the average rate over the past 5 years.
Partly as a result of those cases, New Brunswick has now pulled even with B.C in terms of fraud crimes per capita, and ranks behind only Alberta and Saskatchewan provinces. |