Fentanyl is a dangerous synthetic opioid more potent than heroin and morphine with a high risk of accidental overdose. It is often sold on the street mixed with other drugs and in counterfeit pills made to look like prescription opioids. In recognition of the dangers associated with fentanyl use the Supreme Court of Canada has established a guideline sentence of nine years imprisonment for wholesale trafficking. A selection of recent rulings from Alberta courts now provides a basis on which to assess current sentencing trends and the impact of the guideline.

1. Introduction

On May 29, 2026, Justice S.N. Mandziuk of the Court of King’s Bench of Alberta, at Edmonton, Alberta, sentenced Markus Busch to 11 years imprisonment for possessing 3,363 grams of fentanyl for the purpose of trafficking contrary to s. 5(2) of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. (here) The sentence was compounded by consecutive sentences for three firearms related offences bringing the global sentence to 14 years. The fentanyl had a street value of $672,788. The reasons for sentence present an opportunity to consider the evolving range of sentences imposed by Alberta courts in fentanyl cases since the benchmark ruling of the Supreme Court of Canada in R. v. Parranto that I discussed in previous posts to On The Wire. (here and here)

2. Background

Two months into the investigation the police obtained a warrant to search an Edmonton apartment that Mr. Busch rented in his own name. The search uncovered 4,305 grams of cocaine, 3,363 grams of fentanyl, and a cornucopia of weapons and drug paraphernalia. A search of his home produced two long guns and body armour. During a subsequent traffic stop and a search incidental to his arrest, the police found a cache of ammunition, small amounts of drugs, more weapons, liquor cans, pill bottles and an open bottle of Jack Daniels. The state sought a sentence of 15 years and 6 months. The defendant argued for 10 years and 6 months. It is reasonable to infer that the positions taken by the parties were driven by the 9-year guideline sentence for wholesale trafficking.

A pre-sentence report revealed Mr. Busch’s family history of financial difficulties, the death of his mother and a state of declining mental health. He was receiving therapeutic and psychiatric treatment while in pre-trial custody. Although he had been in residential treatment as a result of cocaine use and binge drinking, there was no evidence he was “in the throes of addiction or funding his habit.” Justice Mandziuk thus found “nothing remarkable” that impacted his moral blameworthiness in a material way. “Difficulties of the sort described by this individual are, while unfortunate, life events of the ordinary kind,” he said. Although he pleaded guilty, it was not an “early plea” and appears to have been given little, if any weight, in mitigation.

The 9-year guideline figured prominently in Justice Mandziuk’s reasons where he emphasized that the ante Parranto range of sentences in the reported case law was eight to 15 years. In separate concurring reasons in Parranto, Justice Michael Moldaver had said “there should be an upward departure in sentencing for wholesale fentanyl trafficking due to the new understanding of the gravity of the offence.” He described fentanyl trafficking as “the most efficient killer of drug users on the market today.” In situating Mr. Busch in the hierarchy of the drug trafficking enterprise, Justice Mandziuk inferred from the evidence that he was a “mid to high level trafficker” with access to wholesale amounts. “He was trusted as a distributor on a wholesale level,” he said.

3. A Selection of Case Law

The Alberta Court of Appeal continues to maintain a “hostile attitude” toward narcotics trafficking on “more than a minimal scale” clearly stated in R. v. Maskell over forty-five years ago. (here) In R. v. Sunstrum, the court described fentanyl traffickers as “merchants of death.” (here) Sentences for fentanyl offences have thus evolved in recognition of “the dangerous nature of the drug and the harm it inflicts on individuals and communities.” Most recently, in R. v. Hargreaves-Bouillon, the court reiterated the “merchants of death” characterization reaffirming again that “the primary sentencing objectives for drug trafficking offences are denunciation and deterrence, and rehabilitation is secondary.” (here) What, then, has been the impact of the 9-year guideline sentence, frequently called the “starting point” in quantum analysis? Are sentences for fentanyl trafficking on the rise in Alberta’s highest courts?

In Sunstrum, decided on September 4, 2024, the appellant was sentenced to 17 years imprisonment for possession of fentanyl for the purpose of trafficking on a wholesale level. He was found in possession of a kilogram of fentanyl with a street value between $16 and $24 million. The Crown had sought a sentence of 16 years and the defendant had suggested 9 to 12 years before the sentencing judge. During a Gardiner hearing, the trial judge said that making admissions sufficient to find a guilty plea “is tantamount to a guilty plea” but flipped in the reasons for sentence stating that the mitigation value of a guilty plea is diminished when an offender did not actually plead guilty but made admissions and invited a conviction. The Court of Appeal agreed with the appellant that, had the sentencing judge “voiced the position taken in his reasons for sentence during the sentence hearing, the appellant may well have entered a guilty plea at that time to obtain the greater credit.” The sentence was reduced to 16 years.

In Hargreaves-Bouillon, released on January 21, 2025, the respondent pleaded guilty to possessing 27 grams of fentanyl for the purpose of trafficking and possession of a loaded restricted firearm arising from separate incidents. The federal Crown sought 30 months imprisonment on the drug charge and the provincial Crown proposed 26 months consecutive on the firearm and related charges. The global position of the state was 4 years and 8 months. The respondent sought a sentence of 24 months less one day to be served in the community subject to a conditional sentence order. He was an addict who made “exceptional efforts at rehabilitation”. The sentencing judge found a conditional sentence was appropriate. The Alberta Court of Appeal agreed with the sentencing judge that 5 to 7 years was the “relevant range” although the federal Crown’s recommended sentence of 30 months “was on the low end”. In the result, the court allowed the appeal and imposed a sentence of 4 years and 4 months mainly because the sentencing judge erred by imposing concurrent sentences.

Two recent lower court decisions merit comment. In R. v. Tiwana, the defendant was convicted after trial of two counts of possessing fentanyl and methamphetamine for the purpose of trafficking. (here) The fentanyl was “deceptively manufactured” into 16,820 counterfeit Oxycocet pills. Justice E.J. Sidnell of the Court of King’s Bench of Alberta, at Calgary, Alberta, found that Mr. Tiwana was a “trusted collaborator” in the wholesale trafficking enterprise and did not hold an “executive position”. He sentenced Mr. Tiwana to 9 1/2  years on the fentanyl count emphasizing the large quantity and the surreptitious presence of the fentanyl. And in R. v. El Ajami, the defendant was convicted of conspiracy to traffic fentanyl after trial. (here) The police had seized 3,300 fentanyl pills. Justice M.H. Bourque, also of the Court of King’s Bench of Alberta, at Calgary, described Mr. El Ajami as the “Chief Executive Officer of a complex drug trafficking network”. He imposed a sentence of 10 years but stated that a fit sentence would have been 13 years absent the mitigating factors. Mr. El Ajami had voluntarily returned from Lebanon for trial.

4. Conclusion

There does not appear to be a significant quantum increase in higher level enterprise crime sentences involving fentanyl. The 16-year sentence in Sunstrum is close to the range of sentences for multi-kilo cocaine cases ante Parranto where the reported cases reveal a range of 12 to 15 years in Alberta. (here) It is evident, however, that there has been an increase in lower end wholesale trafficking cases which was anticipated given that the 9-year guideline is double the benchmark of 4 1/2 years for low level wholesale trafficking in cocaine – with or without judicial hyperbole. (here) The upward results in fentanyl sentences, however, are not solely a result of Parranto. The trend was evident in ante Parranto cases such as R. v. Felix where a sentence of 7 years was raised to 10 years on appeal. (here) Based on Hargreaves-Bouillon, the new guideline appears to be functioning as it should. Sentencing in fentanyl cases remains an individualized process and the guideline is but one jurisprudential tool available to sentencing judges in arriving at a proportionate sentence.