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If you're caught with ganja plants only for personal use...?
Do they treat it the same way as they would treat small-scale possession? This is in the UK.
Bearing in mind I'm not asking about dealing, just plants for personal use.
Thanks.
In no way does 1 or 2 plants imply being a dealer. It wouldn't be worth the investment.
Plenty of people including medical cannabis patients grow their own plants to avoid buying from gangs. It's a perfectly reasonable thing to do and much more socially responsible than funding criminals.
Would you rather police time was spent chasing rapists and murderers or potheads? Because for every minute they spend tackling small scale possession, a minute to solve other crime is wasted.
I'm not saying that everyone who grows does it from personal use- far from it.
However, plenty of people DO grow for their own use and no-one else's, particularly MS patients. So it's wrong to assume growing = supplying.
I understand it is not the police who make the laws and it is their job to enforce them, but they should also understand that unless there is incriminating evidence of supply then there's no reason why growing a plant should not be treated lightly like simple possession.
I would like to add that the police should be grateful to people who grow their own. Why? Because home growers do far, far less damage than commercial growers. No wire tapping/employing illegal immigrants etc.
Therefore it does not make sense to crack down on people who grow it for themselves because the black market would just become richer.
3 Answers
- DeanLv 47 years agoFavourite answer
Cultivation of Class B Drugs - Cannabis
In the eyes of the law it doesn't matter whether its one tiny plant or 2000 plants, fact is its still the cultivation of cannabis and the owner or person responsible is still dealt with accordingly, most (not all) people who start on one tiny plant for personal use often end up expanding to 2, then 3, then 4 and so on, before you know it they have 100 plants.
In fact theres a story going around that once some cannabis was seized from such a place, one plant was kept for evidence at court to be presented, in order to keep it fit for presentation at court the property store staff watered it, when it arrived the judge questioned if that amounted to cultivation as they watered it, and technically yes it does.
The adaged old saying of "you should be chasing rapists and murders" is pointless, Rapes are investigated by specially trained CID officers, NOT officers on the streets and murders happen few and far between (even in London), anyway how do you tell a murderer on the streets and most murderers and their victims often know each other as most murders happen between partners.
I don't care who they are, what they do, where they are from, if they have cannabis on them or are growing it they should be dealt with accordingly, there's a few reasons cannabis is a Class B drug and the one that stands out the most to me is Paranoid Schizophrenia, i have seen what it does to its users first hand and it ain't nice as they spiral into it.
Here's some stuff on the Law (bit of read) regarding Cannabis cultivation:
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1971/38
What level the suspects involvement defines CPS charging decision:
http://www.cps.gov.uk/legal/s_to_u/sentencing_manu...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4486548.stm
- Anonymous7 years ago
There are no minimum limits for possession of plants or the processed drug.
The concept of "personal use" is only a convenience which some police/customs officers can apply if they are involved in other matters of greater importance. It only applies to packets of drug in your possession anyway, not to plants. An officer can prosecute you for possessing any amount if he sees fit.
Whether people grow their own cannabis or not does NOT make it legal. There is no legal defence of growing it for "personal use", only the officer's discretion.
For even possessing one plant you could be prosecuted, probably under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 c.38 s.4 but there are other laws which could apply.
Your reasoning about police action is flawed. The only reason that the low volume growers get away with it to extent that they do is BECAUSE the police are out chasing rapists and murderers (many of whom are drug addicts anyway) and people who obviously grow cannabis on an industrial scale for sale. So the law enforcement organisations are actually using what you might call common sense in this respect. But if a grower commits any other offence then the drug will be added to the indictment list.
- Anonymous7 years ago
Depends how many. Sounds like cultivation to me.