Controlled Drugs and Substances Act

And I'll briefly read a part of the petition, what it entangles there.

And we're calling on the government to review and amend the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act to allow for manslaughter charges where evidence shows that a trafficked or supplied illicit drug directly caused an overdose death.

The other part is introduce provisions for criminal negligence causing death or bodily harm where evidence shows a trafficked or supplied illicit drug caused the overdose resulting in death or serious injury.

Introduce provisions for criminal negligence causing death or bodily harm where a person normally fails to seek emergency medical assistance.

Because that's very important to everybody to see that through.

Basically, he was charged under what I call the generic manslaughter charges in another part of the criminal code.

But I'm aiming to have that inserted in the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act to specifically deal with the drug problem.

So I encourage anybody that is in St. John's and is able to attend their preliminary hearing, go there to support that family because...

But, you know, with respect to drugs as well, There's actually, for simple possession, they are very, very unlikely to approve charges.

They have a desk book policy, but also actually embedded in the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act in sections 10.1 to 10.3.

It requires our police officers to consider every other alternative to requesting a charge for simple possession.

And Crown has said they will only approve charges in exceptional circumstances.

And I just want to say a big thank you to Nikki Ralph of Eastport for collecting 869 signatures in memory of her son, Joey Ralph.

And I mean, this is a big step important for us to recognize that drug pushers need to be held accountable and the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act needs to be changed to reflect what we're dealing with in society now with the mixture of drugs and killing people and overdoses have skyrocketed in Newfoundland since 2020.

It's getting worse and worse and this is a step to help minimize the damage that's being done to people Some people say you can't get rid of all drug dealers.

Well, my answer is you can't get rid of all murderers.

The drugs weighed almost 849 pounds and were discovered during a secondary examination at the port of entry.

CBSA arrested the driver after the discovery, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police charged the individual with importing a controlled substance and possession for trafficking under Canada's Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.

The case was announced August 25th, nearly two weeks after the seizure.

CBSA reported more than 4,500 kilograms of cocaine and crack seizures during fiscal 2025-2026, underscoring the ongoing enforcement challenge at busy commercial border crossings.