• The Charges You’re Facing

• Penalties

The Charges You’re Facing
There are a wide range of allegations that typically underlay charges of Trafficking and Possession for the Purpose of Trafficking. They range from being a simple courier to having control over a grow operation or laboratory to “dial-a-dope” operations to multi-kilogram transactions. Undercover police operators and informants often feature heavily in these investigations.

Penalties
Whether you’re alleged to be a “street level”, “mid-level” or “high-level” trafficker, the Crown will invariably seek a jail term for any trafficking (or possession for the purpose of trafficking) offence that involves anything other than a small quantity of marijuana. Where an individual is alleged to be involved in a trafficking operation to users via cell phones or pagers (a “dial-a-dope” operation), the circumstances of the trafficking are considered to be aggravated for the purposes of sentencing because of the perceived inability by law enforcement to detect these operations quickly. Police regularly utilize undercover operatives who commonly deal directly with street level traffickers and try to move up the chain to higher level traffickers.

According to the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, the maximum penalty for trafficking or possession for the purpose of trafficking of cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine is life imprisonment. The maximum penalty for trafficking or PPT of ecstasy or MDA is ten years. For marijuana, where the quantity at issue is less than 3 kilograms, the maximum penalty is five years. Where it’s more than 3 kilograms, the maximum penalty is life imprisonment.

There are no minimum penalties for any of these offences and as a practical matter, the penalty you’re facing will be substantially less than the statutory maximums. Your personal circumstances, particularly a lack of prior record factor in considerably, as of course do the circumstances of the offence. For a first offender, the issue will usually be one of whether the sentence will consist of “real jail” or a conditional sentence consisting of “house arrest”. These sentences are available where the sentence to be imposed is less than 2 years, where the offender does not present a danger to the public and where the “the purposes and principles of sentencing can be met” by the imposition of a conditional sentence. As you may have gathered, the sentencing judge has a considerable discretion in deciding whether or not to grant a conditional sentence.

DISCLAIMER
The statement above is not legal advice. It is simply intended to give a very general understanding of this offence and some of the possible issues and defences that might be considered in defending it. For legal advice, click here.