One in Six Grow-Op Cases Ends in Prison Sentence

But thanks to the Conservative's new crime bill, that number stands to get much, much, higher.

Newly released statistics from the Department of Justice will give us an idea of just how many more people the Gazillion-Dollar Pot-Growers' Act could throw in prison due to, well, growing pot. A study of 415 people arrested and convicted for growing marijuana in some capacity found that only one in six people were handed prison sentences, while the vast majority of them simply paid fines or served conditional sentences. The new legislation before Parliament would require that anyone with six or more plants would have to face a mandatory six months behind bars, meaning that one-in-six rate is about to get much, much higher. The penalty gets jacked up to a mandatory nine months if a suspect is convicted of having just one plant on a rented property and then passes a joint on said property to an 18-year-old. The study also found that nine out of 10 suspects ultimately pled guilty to the charges. When the crime bill passes, legal observers have suggested that suspects would be much more likely to fight the charges in court because they know that they would face jail time if found guilty. This could lead to even more cases clogging an already backed-up justice system, but hey, those new and expanded prisons ain't gonna fill themselves, are they?