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Drug seizure information obtained by Postmedia through a freedom of information request gives insight into how police track illicit substances.

Vancouver police seized over 138,000 grams of illicit substances over the course of 2018, down from more than 204,149 grams the previous year, according to the figures.

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Here are five key takeaways from what the figures do and don’t tell us:

1. Despite legalization, cannabis is still the most-seized substance

Seizure of cannabis and related products (like CBD oil) dipped from nearly 100,000 grams in 2017 to just over 60,000 in 2018 — but it’s still by far the most common drug seized by police.

While the Cannabis Act legalized the use of cannabis for adults in specific spaces, it also prohibits “illicit cannabis” grown or distributed outside government-sanctioned spaces.

Figures from Statistics Canada indicates 47 per cent of cannabis users, or 2.5 million Canadians, obtained the drug from legal sources in the first quarter of 2019, compared to a mere 23 per cent in the first period of 2018 before it was widely legalized.