Your guide to making money in the multi-billion dollar marijuana industry
| Own your ow legal marijuana business | Your guide to making money in the multi-billion dollar marijuana industry |
| Major Studies of Drugs and Drug Policy | ||||
| Canadian Senate Special Committee on Illegal Drugs | ||||
| Volume 2 - Policies and Practices In Canada |
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Chapter 12 - The National Legislative ContextPart I: Offences and
Punishment
Participation in the aforementioned
activities would not necessarily result in criminal penalties. As will be seen
below, the act provides for regulations authorizing the possession, import and
export and production for medical, scientific, industrial purposes or for the
purposes of the act. Part I of the CDSA enumerates a number of types of
offences: (1) Possession of a Schedule I,
II or III substance (subsection 4(1)); obtaining or seeking to obtain a
Schedule I, II, III or IV substance, or the order necessary to obtain it
from a practitioner (subsection 4(2)). The following table shows the maximum
penalties for the offence of possession:[1][121]
The penalties imposed for the
offence under subsection 4(2) are similar but slightly different from
those provided for possession. (2) Trafficking in a Schedule I,
II, III or IV substance or any substance represented to be such a substance.
Trafficking is defined as any transaction to sell, administer, give, transfer,
transport, send or deliver a schedule substance, or to offer to do any one of
those things. To “sell” means offering for sale, exposing for sale, having in
one's possession for sale and distributing a substance, whether or not the
distribution is made for consideration (subsection 5(1)); possessing any
Schedule I, II, III or IV substance for the purpose of trafficking
(subsection 5(2)). The following table shows the maximum penalties
for these offences:
Trafficking in cannabis is not
always punishable by the maximum penalty of life imprisonment. In cases of
trafficking involving less than 3 kg of cannabis, a person is guilty of an
indictable offence and subject to a maximum term of five years’
imprisonment less a day. (3) Importing or exporting any
Schedule I to VI substance (subsection 6(1)); having in one’s
possession any Schedule I to VI substance for the purpose of exporting it
(subsection 6(2)). The following table shows the maximum penalties
for these offences:
(4) Producing a Schedule I, II,
III or IV substance. The expression “produce” is defined as meaning to obtain a
substance by any method or process including manufacturing, synthesizing or
using any means of altering the chemical or physical properties of the
substance, or cultivating, propagating or harvesting the substance or any
living thing from which the substance may be extracted or otherwise obtained.
The following table shows the maximum penalties for this offence:
(5) Possession of property obtained
by crime (section 8) and offences relating to the laundering of proceeds
of crime (section 9). The penalties are obviously closely
related to the schedule in which the substance in question appears.
Furthermore, the penalties determined for cannabis offences also vary
considerably depending on the quantity involved, a subject discussed in greater
detail below. Section 10 of the Act states
the purpose of sentencing, which is to contribute to the respect for the law
and the maintenance of a just, peaceful and safe society while encouraging
rehabilitation, and treatment in appropriate circumstances, of offenders and
acknowledging the harm done to victims and to the community. This section also
provides a list of circumstances which the court is required to consider as
“aggravating” factors in determining the sentence that shall be imposed on a
person convicted of a designated substance offence. Those factors are: the use
of a weapon or use of or threat to use violence, trafficking in a substance on
or near school grounds or in or near any public place frequented by minors or
by persons under the age of 18 years, and previous convictions of a
designated substance offence. In addition, the use of the services of a minor
in the commission of a designated substance offence is an aggravating factor.
Any judge deciding not to sentence a person to imprisonment despite the
presence of one or more aggravating factors is required to give reasons for
that decision. [1][121] The tables of penalties in this section are reproduced from Bill C‑8:
An Act to regulate certain drugs and other substances, Legislative
Summary 240, prepared by Allain, J.,
(1996; revised May 1997) Ottawa: Law and Government Division, Parliamentary Research Branch, Library of Parliament. |
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