The Offence of Cultivating a Drug-Containing Plant
Georgian criminal legislation establishes liability in a separate norm for the illegal sowing, growing or cultivation of a plant containing a narcotic substance. The act covers planting, tending and propagating a prohibited plant outside the procedure established by law, regardless of any claim that it was done for personal use. The note to the norm explains directly that among drug-containing plants covered by this provision the law implies the narcotic substance defined in the relevant column of the table of the annex to the narcotics law — the plant cannabis. If you or a relative faces this charge, early involvement of a defence lawyer matters: the outcome of such cases often turns on details that only a trained eye can isolate from the file.
Punishment for the Basic Composition
Under the law, the illegal sowing, growing or cultivation of a drug-containing plant is punishable by a fine or community service for a term of two hundred to four hundred hours, or house arrest for a term of six months to two years, or imprisonment for a term of two to six years. Even the basic composition thus leaves no room for treating the act as trivial: the court chooses among several alternatives, and each option depends on the personality of the accused, the circumstances of the case and the quality of the defence. This is precisely why the lawyer's task is to focus the court's attention on those circumstances that justify a lighter type of punishment or a reduction of the sentence within the statutory range.
Aggravating Signs and Stricter Punishment
The same act carries a far stricter consequence when committed in a large quantity, by a group with prior agreement, through abuse of an official position, more than once, or by a person previously convicted of any crime provided for in this chapter — this composition is punishable by imprisonment for a term of four to seven years. Where the violation is committed in an especially large quantity or by an organised group, imprisonment for a term of six to twelve years applies. Each of these signs must be separately established and substantiated by the prosecution: the classification of the quantity, the form of group participation and the prior record are elements of the accusation that the defence studies in minute detail, because removing even one aggravating feature moves the case into a much lighter frame.