Federal Oversight over Drugs and an Overview of the Food and Drugs Act

• Author: T. Nessim Abu-Zahra/Simon Carvalho/David Edwards
• Pages: 10-22

10

TWO

Federal Oversight over Drugs and an

Overview of the Food and Drugs Act

A. FEDERAL CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY OVER

DRUGS

e federal government’s jurisdiction to enact the Food and Drugs Act is based

on the Constitution Act, 1867. is Act does not contain explicit references

to drugs or health. However, section () of the Act gives the federal

Parliament jurisdiction over criminal law. e protection of the public from

potentially harmful products, including drugs, is an area of legislation that

the courts have conrmed falls within the criminal law head of power. For

example, in RJR-MacDonald Inc v Canada (Attorney General), the Supreme

Court of Canada held that the regulation of tobacco products is a valid

exercise of the criminal law.

is jurisdictional question was also considered in other cases. In Ref-

erence re Validity of Section 5(a) Dairy Industry Act, the Supreme Court of

Canada held that the protection of health is a valid exercise of the criminal

law power. In R v Wetmore, the Court addressed whether the federal attor-

ney general was entitled to prosecute violations of the Food and Drugs Act

(FDA) and found that the protection of food and other products from

adulteration, and the enforcement of product standards, was a valid criminal

 (UK),  &  Vict, c , reprinted in RSC , Appendix II, No .

 []  SCR .

 [] SCR .

 []  SCR .

 RSC , c F-.