The murder charges following the investigation into drug overdose deaths in Canada can be described into two categories: pre- and post-criminal.
W5 cases found before the current ongoing opioid crisis include the Canadian who had a hand in the overdose death of comedian John Belushi in 1982, and the 3 deaths in which the allegations are manslaughter was brought between 1993 and 2008. All three resulted in convictions, with one being upheld. of the Supreme Court of Canada.
But starting in 2016, W5 saw a dramatic increase: 135 manslaughter and criminal negligence cases resulting in deadly crimes were brought up by police and prosecutors across Canada.
The open source investigation begins by searching news and legal databases. The police services included in those reports were contacted about the number of charges they made, and the survey was expanded to include Canada’s largest police services.
Some provide news releases, while others provide statistics, most notably the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), which has made 63 of the 135 charges filed by W5 as of 2016. Fifteen other police services across Ontario filed 25 charges in that time period, making Canada the most populous province in the country topping the nation for drug-related homicides (65%).
The number of drug overdose murder allegations peaked in 2019 at 65, the number has more than halved in 2020 and to 11 in the first 10 months of 2021. OPP told W5 it did not file a report. any case. Alleged murder in drug overdose deaths this year.
The final inventory did not include a second-degree murder charge filed and subsequently filed against a mother in a 2017 infant overdose, but it did include a school where the charge of first-degree murder was originally filed. downgrade to manslaughter. That charge was dismissed in that case after the individual committed drug trafficking, a common finding in many cases reviewed by W5.
As many of the cases reviewed by W5 continue to move through the court system, their results will reveal whether the murder charges are really “stuck” or have any impact on fighting the crisis. opioid crisis or not.
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