Canadian Criminal Law/Offences/Drug Trafficking

Drug Trafficking
Section 5 of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act
Election / Plea
Election	Hybrid/Indictable (varies)
Jurisdiction	Prov. Court SC Judge + PI(indict.) SC Jury + PI (indict.)
Summary Dispositions
Avail. Disp.	varies on Schedule
Minimum	varies on Schedule
Maximum	varies on Schedule
Indictable Dispositions
Avail. Disp. (Indict.)	varies on Schedule
Minimum (Indict.)	varies on Schedule
Maximum (Indict.)	varies on Schedule
References
Offence Elements Sentencing Principles Sentence Digests

Legislation

Trafficking in substance
5. (1) No person shall traffic in a substance included in Schedule I, II, III or IV or in any substance represented or held out by that person to be such a substance.

Possession for purpose of trafficking
(2) No person shall, for the purpose of trafficking, possess a substance included in Schedule I, II, III or IV.

– CDSA

Proving the Offence

Possession for the Purpose of Trafficking
Along with the essential elements of time and date, identity and jurisdiction, the Crown must prove the elements of:

1. Possession of Substance (Knowledge, consent, control)
   1. must have knowledge of the illegal nature of the substance
2. Substance is a Control Substance under the CDSA (certificate of analysis, chain of possession, amounts found)
3. the accused knew of (or held a belief as to) the nature of the substance
4. Possession of Substance was not authorized
5. The accused intended to traffic the Substance

Trafficking
Along with the essential elements of time and date, identity and jurisdiction, the Crown must prove the elements of:

1. Accused was trafficking in a substance
2. the substance was Schedule I to V Controlled Substance

Sources:

Typical Defences

• Entrapment

See Also

• Trafficking
• Drug Production
• CDSA Schedules