The unauthorized possession of narcotic drugs was criminalized in the criminal offense of unauthorized production, possession and marketing of narcotic drugs in the Criminal Code. Following the above changes, the unauthorized possession of narcotic drugs is prescribed as a special criminal offense which, by its definition, differs from the previous incrimination. Make sure to find your drug offence lawyer in toronto.
Namely, in contrast to the previous definition of this criminal offense, which read “Whoever holds unauthorized possession of substances or preparations that have been declared for narcotic drugs”, now it is prescribed that “who is unauthorized in a small quantity for his own use of the substance or preparations which were declared for narcotic drugs. ”
Therefore, for the existence of this criminal offense, among other things, it is necessary to cumulatively fulfill two conditions:
1. Small quantity
2. For your own use
Earlier, the possession of narcotic drugs – for its own use – was an optional basis for exemption from punishment.
The latest incrimination of drug possession did not, however, clarify the basic problem of this incrimination in practice: is the consumption of narcotic drugs also a criminal offense? It was considered that it was a criminal offense, but it still implies unauthorized drug possession in an earlier period. However, there were judgments in which the Supreme Court took a clear view that unauthorized possession is only a posture that implies a thing in a state that would have all the properties of a state defined in civil law.
As mentioned, the new definition of the beings of this criminal offense not only did not resolve this dispute in practice but also opened up new issues:
How much legal drugs are people allowed to use?
The Criminal Code does not provide an answer to this question, however, so far, the judicial practice has largely distinguished the drug use from the other serious forms of this criminal offense by the amount of narcotic drugs and is used for its own use. Thus, with the new incrimination, only the harmonization of the legal drugs with the current court practice has been done.
What incrimination is milder?
If the elements of the criminal offense are compared before these changes, and after the changes, it is noticeable that the criminal offense now is the keeping of the narcotic drug more difficult for the criminal, since the explicit demand for a smaller quantity is for own use, whose own use is no longer an optional basis for exemption from punishment . This issue is certainly relevant to the situation if it is tried for crimes committed before the latest amendments.
Finally, there remains a dilemma about how to handle-qualify cases when someone keeps the narcotic drug in a larger quantity than “a smaller amount”, which does not do either for sale or for its own use.
