New Brunswick Drug Trafficking Lawyers

A trafficking charge in New Brunswick begins with the onus reversed. On a Schedule I charge punishable by life, s. 515(6) of the Criminal Code requires the accused to show cause why release is justified, so a New Brunswick drug trafficking lawyer starts preparing the bail hearing on day one. The trial comes later. Where the accused waits for it, at home or in custody, is decided in the first week.

Section 5 Creates Both Charges and Neither Requires a Sale

Under s. 5 of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, trafficking covers selling, giving, administering, transferring, transporting, sending, delivering and offering. Possession for the purpose of trafficking, s. 5(2), is possession plus that intended purpose. Cocaine, methamphetamine and fentanyl sit in Schedule I and carry a maximum of life. Simple possession is a different charge with a different page, the firm’s New Brunswick drug charges page, which also covers the Charter attack on the search that found the drugs.

The Bail Plan Is Built Before the Hearing

A show cause hearing on a reverse onus charge is won with a plan: a surety with means, a fixed residence, reporting and device conditions the court can verify. The plan is usually presented through the proposed surety, and the accused rarely testifies. If detention is ordered, the review goes to the Court of King’s Bench, and a stronger plan can be brought back.

A New Brunswick Drug Trafficking Lawyer Attacks the Intent Evidence

New Brunswick files usually pair the seized items with an opinion from a police expert that the quantity, the packaging and the cash point to resale. Every step is tested. A heavy user buying in bulk holds quantities the expert calls commercial. Cash in a tradesperson’s truck has an innocent source. Messages the Crown excerpts read differently in the full thread. Where the purpose is left uncertain, the verdict comes down to simple possession.

The Election Sets the Courtroom

The charge is indictable, and the accused elects: the Provincial Court of New Brunswick, or the Court of King’s Bench by judge alone or with a jury. Because the maximum is life, a preliminary inquiry remains available, and it is used to pin down the expert and the exhibit handling before trial.

Sentencing in New Brunswick After the 2022 Repeal

The mandatory minimums for CDSA offences were repealed in 2022, and the statutory bar on conditional sentences was lifted with them. The Court of Appeal of New Brunswick has set ranges for hard-drug trafficking, and custody remains the starting point in Schedule I cases. Role and quantity move the number: a courier is not a principal, and a street-level file is not a network. Seized cash and vehicles face forfeiture applications, fought on their own evidence. A trafficking conviction is serious criminality for immigration purposes, and a permanent resident can lose the right to appeal a removal order, so that analysis comes before any plea. The New Brunswick Legal Aid Services Commission takes trafficking files for those who qualify financially.

The Moncton office and the Saint John office run these files across the province. To reach a lawyer today, use the contact page.

The Texts Were Talk. I Never Sold Anything.

An offer to traffic can be a complete offence on its own. The Crown still has to prove the messages were a genuine offer, and the full conversation often shows something else.

Can the Charge Come Down to Simple Possession?

Yes. Where the inference of purpose is thin, the Crown may resolve the file to possession under s. 4, and a trial judge who doubts the purpose convicts of possession only.

How Long Does a Trafficking Case Take in New Brunswick?

Months, and often more than a year once a preliminary inquiry and pre-trial applications are set. The clock runs against the Crown: the Supreme Court of Canada’s ceiling is 18 months in the Provincial Court and 30 in the Court of King’s Bench, and delay past the ceiling can end the prosecution.

Will I Get My Cash and Car Back?

Seized cash and vehicles are the subject of separate forfeiture proceedings. Property with an innocent owner has protections, and the firm contests forfeiture alongside the charge.

This page is the New Brunswick half of the firm’s drug trafficking overview. Read trafficking versus possession in New Brunswick; other charges are under criminal defence.