Skip to main navigation

Cultivate Cannabis

Cultivate Cannabis

Cultivating cannabis is an offence under section 23 of the Drug Misuse and Trafficking Act 1985 (NSW). The maximum penalty is imprisonment between 10 years and 20 years, depending on the number of cannabis plants cultivated. However, if the number of cannabis plants is less than 250 the charge may be dealt with by a magistrate in the Local Court. In such a case the maximum penalty that the magistrate may impose is imprisonment for 2 years.

To prove cultivation of cannabis, the prosecution must show beyond reasonable doubt that:

• The person takes, or participates in, any step, or causes any step to be taken, in the process of cultivation;

• The person provides or arranges finance for any such step in that process; or

• The person provides the premises in which any such step in that process is taken, or permits any such step in that process to be taken.

“Cultivates” is defined by the Act as including:

• To sow or scatter cannabis seeds, and

• To plant, grow, tend, or nurture cannabis plants

You may have a defence if the court is satisfied that you did not know or suspect and could not reasonably be expected to have known or suspected that the plant was a prohibited plant.