SENTENCING FOR COMMERCIAL CULTIVATION OF CANNABIS

Court of Appeal, Criminal Division

Persons convicted of being concerned in the large scale commercial
cultivation or production of cannabis, could expect to receive
sentences with a starting point of three years if they acted as a
gardener, six to seven years if they acted as an organiser, three to
seven years if they acted as a manager and higher sentences where they
controlled a large number of such operations.

The Court of Appeal, Criminal Division (Lord Justice Latham, Mr
Justice Jack and Mr Justice Cranston) so held on December 21, 2007,
when disposing of sentence appeals by seven appellants convicted at
various crown courts of being concerned in the cultivation of cannabis.

LORD JUSTICE LATHAM, giving the judgment of the court, said that in
all cases, cultivation took place hydroponically and under artificial
light requiring a high consumption of abstracted electricity. The
cannabis crop was mostly of the highest quality, producing "skunk",
which was particularly strong, grown in private houses or industrial
premises appropriately converted, and extensively equipped with
propagating and growing apparatus.

The gardeners who tended the crops usually had little to do with
setting up the operation. They were often illegal immigrants exploited
because of the vulnerability.

Such operations were extremely profitable, as the value of crops could
substantially exceed UKP100,000 a year, while costs were minimal, as the
electricity was usually unlawfully abstracted, and the labour costs
minimal. The fact that they were so remunerative required the court to
consider deterrent sentences.