Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (S.C. 1996, c. 19)

Short Title

Marginal note:Short title

1 This Act may be cited as the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.

Interpretation

Marginal note:Definitions

• 2 (1) In this Act,

  adjudicator

  adjudicator means a person appointed or employed under the Public Service Employment Act who performs the duties and functions of an adjudicator under this Act and the regulations; (arbitre)

  analogue

  analogue means a substance that, in relation to a controlled substance, has a substantially similar chemical structure; (analogue)

  analyst

  analyst means a person who is designated as an analyst under section 44; (analyste)

  Attorney General

  Attorney General means

  • (a) the Attorney General of Canada, and includes their lawful deputy, or

  • (b) with respect to proceedings commenced at the instance of the government of a province and conducted by or on behalf of that government, the Attorney General of that province, and includes their lawful deputy; (procureur général)

  chemical offence-related property

  chemical offence-related property means offence-related property that is a chemical or precursor and includes anything that contains such property or has such property on it; (bien infractionnel chimique)

  controlled substance

  controlled substance means a substance included in Schedule I, II, III, IV or V; (substance désignée)

  customs office

  customs office has the same meaning as in subsection 2(1) of the Customs Act; (bureau de douane)

  designated device

  designated device means a device included in Schedule IX; (instrument désigné)

  designated substance offence

  designated substance offence means

  • (a) an offence under Part I, except subsection 4(1), or

  • (b) a conspiracy or an attempt to commit, being an accessory after the fact in relation to, or any counselling in relation to, an offence referred to in paragraph (a); (infraction désignée)

  inspector

  inspector means a person who is designated as an inspector under section 30; (inspecteur)

  judge

  judge means a judge as defined in section 552 of the Criminal Code or a judge of a superior court of criminal jurisdiction; (juge)

  justice

  justice has the same meaning as in section 2 of the Criminal Code; (juge de paix)

  Minister

  Minister means the Minister of Health; (ministre)

  non-chemical offence-related property

  non-chemical offence-related property means offence-related property that is not chemical offence-related property; (bien infractionnel non-chimique)

  offence-related property

  offence-related property means, with the exception of a controlled substance, any property, within or outside Canada,

  • (a) by means of or in respect of which a designated substance offence is committed,

  • (b) that is used in any manner in connection with the commission of a designated substance offence, or

  • (c) that is intended for use for the purpose of committing a designated substance offence; (bien infractionnel)

  organization

  organization has the same meaning as in section 2 of the Criminal Code. (organisation)

  person

  person means an individual or an organization. (personne)

  possession

  possession means possession within the meaning of subsection 4(3) of the Criminal Code; (possession)

  practitioner

  practitioner means a person who is registered and entitled under the laws of a province to practise in that province the profession of medicine, dentistry or veterinary medicine, and includes any other person or class of persons prescribed as a practitioner; (praticien)

  precursor

  precursor means a substance included in Schedule VI; (précurseur)

  prescribed

  prescribed means prescribed by the regulations; (Version anglaise seulement)

  produce

  produce means, in respect of a substance included in any of Schedules I to V, to obtain the substance by any method or process including

  • (a) manufacturing, synthesizing or using any means of altering the chemical or physical properties of the substance, or

  • (b) cultivating, propagating or harvesting the substance or any living thing from which the substance may be extracted or otherwise obtained,

  and includes offer to produce; (production)

  provide

  provide means to give, transfer or otherwise make available in any manner, whether directly or indirectly and whether or not for consideration; (fournir)

  sell

  sell includes offer for sale, expose for sale, have in possession for sale and distribute, whether or not the distribution is made for consideration; (vente)

  traffic

  traffic means, in respect of a substance included in any of Schedules I to V,

  • (a) to sell, administer, give, transfer, transport, send or deliver the substance,

  • (b) to sell an authorization to obtain the substance, or

  • (c) to offer to do anything mentioned in paragraph (a) or (b),

  otherwise than under the authority of the regulations. (trafic)

• Marginal note:Interpretation

  (2) For the purposes of this Act,

  • (a) a reference to a controlled substance includes a reference to any substance that contains a controlled substance; and

  • (b) a reference to a controlled substance includes a reference to

    • (i) all synthetic and natural forms of the substance, and

    • (ii) any thing that contains or has on it a controlled substance and that is used or intended or designed for use

      • (A) in producing the substance, or

      • (B) in introducing the substance into a human body.

• Marginal note:Interpretation

  (3) For the purposes of this Act, where a substance is expressly named in any of Schedules I to VI, it shall be deemed not to be included in any other of those Schedules.

Marginal note:Interpretation

• 3 (1) Every power or duty imposed under this Act that may be exercised or performed in respect of an offence under this Act may be exercised or performed in respect of a conspiracy, or an attempt to commit, being an accessory after the fact in relation to, or any counselling in relation to, an offence under this Act.

• (2) [Repealed, 2017, c. 7, s. 2]

PART IOffences and Punishment

Particular Offences

Marginal note:Possession of substance

• 4 (1) Except as authorized under the regulations, no person shall possess a substance included in Schedule I, II or III.

• Marginal note:Obtaining substance

  (2) No person shall seek or obtain

  • (a) a substance included in Schedule I, II, III or IV, or

  • (b) an authorization to obtain a substance included in Schedule I, II, III or IV

  from a practitioner, unless the person discloses to the practitioner particulars relating to the acquisition by the person of every substance in those Schedules, and of every authorization to obtain such substances, from any other practitioner within the preceding thirty days.

• Marginal note:Punishment

  (3) Every person who contravenes subsection (1) where the subject-matter of the offence is a substance included in Schedule I

  • (a) is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding seven years; or

  • (b) is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction and liable

    • (i) for a first offence, to a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or to both, and

    • (ii) for a subsequent offence, to a fine not exceeding two thousand dollars or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or to both.

• Marginal note:Punishment

  (4) Subject to subsection (5), every person who contravenes subsection (1) where the subject-matter of the offence is a substance included in Schedule II

  • (a) is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years less a day; or

  • (b) is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction and liable

    • (i) for a first offence, to a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or to both, and

    • (ii) for a subsequent offence, to a fine not exceeding two thousand dollars or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or to both.

• (5) [Repealed, 2018, c. 16, s. 195]

• Marginal note:Punishment

  (6) Every person who contravenes subsection (1) where the subject-matter of the offence is a substance included in Schedule III

  • (a) is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years; or

  • (b) is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction and liable

    • (i) for a first offence, to a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or to both, and

    • (ii) for a subsequent offence, to a fine not exceeding two thousand dollars or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or to both.

• Marginal note:Punishment

  (7) Every person who contravenes subsection (2)

  • (a) is guilty of an indictable offence and liable

    • (i) to imprisonment for a term not exceeding seven years, where the subject-matter of the offence is a substance included in Schedule I,

    • (ii) to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years less a day, where the subject-matter of the offence is a substance included in Schedule II,

    • (iii) to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years, where the subject-matter of the offence is a substance included in Schedule III, or

    • (iv) to imprisonment for a term not exceeding eighteen months, where the subject-matter of the offence is a substance included in Schedule IV; or

  • (b) is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction and liable

    • (i) for a first offence, to a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or to both, and

    • (ii) for a subsequent offence, to a fine not exceeding two thousand dollars or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or to both.

• (8) [Repealed, 2018, c. 16, s. 195]

Marginal note:Definition of medical emergency

• 4.1 (1) For the purposes of this section, medical emergency means a physiological event induced by the introduction of a psychoactive substance into the body of a person that results in a life-threatening situation and in respect of which there are reasonable grounds to believe that the person requires emergency medical or law enforcement assistance.

• Marginal note:Exemption — medical emergency

  (2) No person who seeks emergency medical or law enforcement assistance because that person, or another person, is suffering from a medical emergency is to be charged or convicted of an offence under subsection 4(1) if the evidence in support of that offence was obtained or discovered as a result of that person having sought assist­ance or having remained at the scene.

• Marginal note:Exemption — persons at the scene

  (3) The exemption under subsection (2) also applies to any person, including the person suffering from the medical emergency, who is at the scene on the arrival of the emergency medical or law enforcement assistance.

• Marginal note:Exemption — evidence

  (4) No person who seeks emergency medical or law enforcement assistance because that person, or another person, is suffering from a medical emergency, or who is at the scene on the arrival of the assistance, is to be charged with an offence concerning a violation of any condition of a pre-trial release or probation order relating to an offence under subsection 4(1) if the evidence in support of that offence was obtained or discovered as a result of that person having sought assistance or having remained at the scene.

• Marginal note:Deeming

  (5) Any condition of a person’s pre-trial release, probation order, conditional sentence or parole relating to an offence under subsection 4(1) that may be violated as a result of the person seeking emergency medical or law enforcement assistance for their, or another person’s, medical emergency, or as a result of having been at the scene on the arrival of the assistance, is deemed not to be violated.

Marginal note:Trafficking in substance

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

• Marginal note:Possession for purpose of trafficking

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

• Marginal note:Punishment

  (3) Every person who contravenes subsection (1) or (2)

  • (a) if the subject matter of the offence is a substance included in Schedule I or II, is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for life;

  • (a.1) [Repealed, 2018, c. 16, s. 196]

  • (b) if the subject matter of the offence is a substance included in Schedule III or V,

    • (i) is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years, or

    • (ii) is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding eighteen months; and

  • (c) where the subject-matter of the offence is a substance included in Schedule IV,

    • (i) is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years, or

    • (ii) is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year.

• (4) [Repealed, 2012, c. 1, s. 39]

• Marginal note:Interpretation

  (5) For the purposes of applying subsection (3) in respect of an offence under subsection (1), a reference to a substance included in Schedule I, II, III, IV or V includes a reference to any substance represented or held out to be a substance included in that Schedule.

• (6) [Repealed, 2018, c. 16, s. 196]