Sub-sub-series consists of records contain a selection of individual case files from the 327 series (9000 block) within the Bureau's registry system. They contain information used by the Bureau to monitor the illicit use of hard drugs such as cocaine, heroin, LSD and morphine through arrests made for drug related offences. The files also document the use and/or abuse of controlled (prescription) drugs through the monitoring of all prescriptions issued by doctors and filled by pharmacies.
Two accessions (1980-81/291 and 1984-85/193) were involved in this selection process, which resulted in an example rather than a statistically valid sample. All files which were opened before 1950 have been preserved, along with selected files from the periods 1950-1960 and 1960 to 1980. These latter files were chosen on the basis of a number of selection criteria designed to preserve both files showing routine administration and more unusual occurrences.
The earliest group of records, those opened before 1950, contain the widest variety of routine documents, mainly reports by the arresting police departments (particularly the Royal Canadian Mounted Police) and supporting information, such as the subject's record of prior arrests/convictions. However, some files contain more unusual documents which demonstrate the lesser-known activities of the Bureau and the narcotic drug inspection/prosecution process, such as: legal documents showing an appeal of conviction; requests from the National Parole Board for input to parole proceedings; notations on the ethnic background of a subject; forfeiture of a vehicle or money involved in a drug-related arrest; notations of aliases used to obtain multiple prescriptions; and correspondence with pharmacists and practitioners regarding forged or multiple prescriptions (the practice of "double doctoring"). Some files also include one or more photographs, or "mugshots" of the individual, often taken over a number of years. "Control cards", which appear in files opened after the mid-1960s, are hand-written reports of prescriptions received by individuals; gleaned from the pharmacy sales reports submitted monthly by each pharmacy in Canada, these control cards are used extensively for establishing an individual's pattern of use and to monitor double doctoring or other suspicious prescriptions. Files opened in the late 1960s and 1970s contain much less documentation, primarily various copies of drug offence reporting forms which are sent to the Bureau from the police.
