Table 10
Completed drug-related cases with a decision of guilt in adult criminal court, by selected type of sentence, type of offence, and type of drug, Canada, 2008/2009 to 2011/2012

Table summary
This table displays the results of Completed drug-related cases with a decision of guilt in adult criminal court, by selected type of sentence, type of offence, and type of drug, Canada, 2008/2009 to 2011/2012. The information is grouped by Type of sentence (appearing as row headers), Type of offence, Possession, Supply and Total, calculated using number of cases, percent of guilty cases and median units of measure (appearing as column headers).
Type of sentenceNote 1 Type of offence
Possession SupplyNote 2 Total
number of cases percent of guilty cases medianNote 3 number of cases percent of guilty cases medianNote 3 number of cases percent of guilty cases medianNote 3
Guilty cases sentenced to custody
Cannabis 3,969 16 10 2,085 27 90 6,054 18 30
Other drugs 8,129 36 15 8,462 55 180 16,591 44 45
Cocaine 5,126 37 14 6,435 59 180 11,561 47 60
Heroin 374 50 8 406 55 180 780 53 47
Methamphetamines 602 49 15 240 65 365 842 53 30
Ecstasy 110 22 14 90 35 180 200 26 30
Other CDSANote 4 1,917 30 20 1,291 44 90 3,208 34 30
Total drug-related cases sentenced to custody 12,098 25 14 10,547 46 150 22,645 32 30
Guilty cases sentenced to fine
Cannabis 13,051 52 250 1,216 16 1,000 14,267 43 300
Other drugs 7,617 33 400 566 4 750 8,183 22 400
Cocaine 4,731 34 450 303 3 700 5,034 20 500
Heroin 105 14 400 9 1 775 114 8 400
Methamphetamines 312 26 400 10 3 500 322 20 400
Ecstasy 232 45 300 12 5 1,000 244 32 350
Other CDSANote 4 2,237 35 300 232 8 750 2,469 27 300
Total drug-related cases sentenced to fine 20,668 43 300 1,782 8 1,000 22,450 32 300
Guilty cases sentenced to probation
Cannabis 7,589 30 365 2,751 35 365 10,340 31 365
Other drugs 8,659 38 365 4,389 29 365 13,048 34 365
Cocaine 5,101 37 365 2,974 27 365 8,075 33 365
Heroin 321 43 365 162 22 365 483 33 365
Methamphetamines 422 35 365 82 22 365 504 32 365
Ecstasy 175 34 360 79 31 365 254 33 365
Other CDSANote 4 2,640 41 365 1,092 37 365 3,732 40 365
Total drug-related cases sentenced to probation 16,248 34 365 7,140 31 365 23,388 33 365
Note 1.

Cases may involve more than one type of sentence and/or other sentences not shown, therefore, percentages do not total 100%.

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Note 2.

Cases related to drug supply include trafficking, import, export, and production of controlled drugs and substances.

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Note 3.

For guilty cases with a sentence of custody, represents the median length (in days) of sentenced custody. Custodial sentence lengths exclude time spent in custody prior to sentencing and/or the amount of credit awarded for time spent in pre-sentence custody. Also excludes cases in which the length of the custody sentence was unknown or indeterminate. For guilty cases with a sentence of fine, represents the median amount of fine (in dollars). Excludes cases where the amount of fine was unknown. For guilty cases with a sentence of probation, represents the median length (in days) of probation. Length of probation excludes cases in which the length of the probation sentence was unknown or greater than three years. The median represents the midpoint, where half of the values are above and half are below.

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Note 4.

Includes all other controlled drugs and substances. Includes precursors and equipment.

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Note: A case is one or more charges against an accused person or company that were processed by the courts at the same time and received a final decision. Cases in this table represent a subset of completed adult criminal and youth court cases from 2008/2009 to 2011/2012. This subset includes all completed cases over this period where at least one charge was drug related and where the case was linked to police records.
Source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, Integrated Criminal Court Survey and Uniform Crime Reporting Survey linked database, 2008/2009 to 2011/2012.
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