Life imprisonment (Schedule I/II) / 10 years (Schedule III/V)
Drug importation/exportation is serious criminality under IRPA s.36(1). Carries life imprisonment for Schedule I/II substances. Also potentially triggers organized criminality inadmissibility under IRPA s.37. Extremely severe immigration consequences.
Bringing controlled drugs into a country or taking them out. The ceiling is life for Schedule I and II substances and 10 years for Schedules III and V, all of it serious criminality. Cases with a network behind them can also raise the organized crime ground, which is judged separately from the conviction itself.
(1) Except as authorized under the regulations, no person shall import into Canada or export from Canada a substance included in Schedule I, II, III, IV, V or VI. (2) Except as authorized under the regulations, no person shall possess a substance included in Schedule I, II, III, IV, V or VI for the purpose of exporting it from Canada. (3) Every person who contravenes subsection (1) or (2) (a) if the subject matter of the offence is a substance included in Schedule I or II, is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for life; (a.1) [Repealed, 2022, c. 15, s. 16] (b) if the subject matter of the offence is a substance included in Schedule III, V or VI, (i) is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years, or (ii) is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding eighteen months; and (c) if the subject matter of the offence is a substance included in Schedule IV, (i) is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years, or (ii) is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year.