On the police facts sheet and the court attendance notice that you may have received you will have a reference to the law part and a short description of offence. These references help the court and the legal profession to identify the exact offence you have been charged with. The law part and short description for this offence are set out in the table below:

The maximum penalty for the charge of cultivate prohibited plant (Section 23 of the Drugs Misuse and Trafficking Act) is a fine of 2000 penalty units and/or 10 years imprisonment.

In NSW, a court can impose any of the following penalties for an cultivate prohibited plant charge.

• Section 10: cultivate prohibited plant proven but dismissed
• Fine
• Good behaviour bond
• Community service order (CSO)
• Suspended sentence
• Intensive correction order (previously periodic detention)
• Home detention
• Prison sentence

You’ll find a brief description of each of these penalties at the bottom of this page.

Likely Penalty

Local Court

Based on our experience and statistics from the Judicial Commission of New South Wales we believe that the penalty in a case that is within the mid range of seriousness for the offence of cultivating a prohibited drug, if heard in the Local Court is likely to be a fine of $500.

District Court

If this matter is finalised in the District Court the likely penalty is an intensive correction order for a period of 2 years.

However, the likely penalty will change depending on the quantity of the prohibited drug. The above figures are for a cultivation of an amount less than commercial quantity only.

To convict you of a cultivate prohibited plant charge, the police must prove each of the following matters beyond a reasonable doubt:

1. You cultivated, or knowingly took part in the cultivation of,
2. a prohibited plant.

They will also need to prove that you were the person who committed the cultivate prohibited plant offence.

Possible defences to an cultivate prohibited plant charge include but are not limited to:

• Duress
• Necessity
• Self Defence

Where the number of prohibited plants exceeds the indictable quantity, this matter is strictly indictable which means that it can only be finalised in the District Court.

Where the number of prohibited plants does not exceed the indictable quantity, this matter is a Table 1 offence which means that either the DPP or an accused can elect to have the matter dealt with in the District Court. If no election is made it will be dealt with in the Local Court.

Where the number of prohibited plants does not exceed the small quantity, this matter is a Table 2 offence which means that the DPP can elect to have the matter dealt with in the District Court. If no election is made it will be dealt with in the Local Court.