Controlled Drug and Substances Act Archives

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Arrest Ex Nihilo: Wilson and the SCC’s Many Modern Approaches

Posted on 6 May 2026

In R. v. Wilson, the Court disagreed over a word that didn’t exist. In s. 4.1(2) of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, SC 1996, c 19, those who call emergency services to save a person experiencing an overdose are immunized from being charged or convicted of drug possession. However, the provision does not include the word “arrest.” Despite this, the Court held that the provision also immunizes "good Samaritans" from arrest for drug possession using a purpose-laden modern approach to statutory interpretation.

Texting Impersonations: SCC Weighs Digital Privacy in R v Campbell

Posted on 1 July 2025

In R v. Campbell, 2024 SCC 42 (“Campbell”), the Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC”) weighed in on whether the police had lawful authority to use the cellphone of a drug dealer without a warrant to continue a text message conversation with an alleged drug distributor. In a 6-3 split, the SCC held that while there was a violation of section 8 of the Charter and Rights and Freedoms [“Charter”], the warrantless search of Mr. Campbell was justified under the exigent circumstances exception outlined in section 11(7) of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (“CDSA”).

A Brief Look at Osgoode’s 2015 Constitutional Cases Conference

Posted on 11 April 2016

Osgoode’s Constitutional Cases Conference is the leading constitutional law conference in Canada and a much anticipated annual event. The Conference, now in its 19th year, brings together constitutional law experts and practitioners for insightful analysis of the past year’s Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC”) constitutional judgments. There were a few novelties to this year’s event […]