-
The federal government’s slow move toward a controlled market for legal marijuana in Canada is set to take a step forward this week with the delivery of a task force report that includes advice on a minimum age, product warnings and measures to prevent drug-impaired driving.(Globe and Mail, “Report on Canada’s marijuana legalization due this […]
-
When can the sale of gardening supplies lead to a conviction for helping to produce marijuana in Ontario? In other words, when can the sale of legal goods to those who would use those goods for illegal ends be a criminal offence? The Ontario Court of Appeal provides some guidance in R. v. Nguyen 2016 ONCA […]
-
In a surprising number of cases people are arrested when the police smell hidden marijuana in a car. One Ontario criminal judge recently decided that he did not believe this old story. In R. v. Newell, 2015 ONCJ 564, a police officer testified he could smell marijuana coming from the accused’s coat pocket from outside […]
-
In R. v. Marchese, 2015 ONCJ 126, the accused was caught with four Fentanyl patches. He was an opiate addict, due to getting hurt at his job as an airplane mechanic. As a result of a surgery he was prescribed Oxycocet and became addicted. Mr. Marchese entered a guilty plea to simple possession of Fentanyl, […]
-
Confidential informants told the police our client was trafficking drugs. The police found 30 Fentanyl patches of 100 microgram strength in our client’s car. He was charged with possession of Fentanyl for the purpose of trafficking. Our client faced a 5 year penitentiary sentence given the harsh sentences in Ontario for trafficking even small amounts […]
-
The prosecution often gets a police “expert” to testify about whether seized drugs were “for the purpose of trafficking” in Ontario drug trials. These experts look at the quantity of the drugs and other indicators of drug trafficking, like the presence of cash or debt lists. Defence counsel must eliminate, or strictly limit, the use […]
-
In September 2014, I commented on the harsh sentences Ontario Courts have been handing out for trafficking in synthetic opiates. (See: What are the sentences for Possession and Trafficking of Fentanyl in Ottawa & Ontario.) The Ontario Court of Appeal confirmed the harsh sentencing range in November 2014. In R. v. Barham, [2014] O.J. No. 5404, the […]
-
What are the sentences for Possession and Trafficking of Fentanyl in Ottawa & Ontario? Given that Fentanyl is a relatively new street drug, the applicable sentencing ranges have yet to be clearly established by the courts in Canada. The few sentencing cases to date suggest that Fentanyl offences will be treated much like heroin offences. […]
-
R. v. Valentine, involved a traffic stop on Highway 401, where drugs were later found. The police searched a car based on the smell of marijuana. The Ontario Court of Appeal upheld the legality of a search, despite several problematic issues.
-
The legality of this mandatory minimum sentence was the issue under consideration in R. v. Lloyd. The Court found that the one-year minimum violated the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms as in many situations it “is a sentence which Canadians would find abhorrent or intolerable.”
Drug Offences
Brett McGarry
- 116 Lisgar Street, Suite 300, K2P 0C2 Ottawa, Ontario Canada
- brett@mcgarrylaw.ca
- 613-884-8576
- 613-691-1373