Fiji’s appeal court favours sentences outside prison for up to 100 g

Fiji’s Court of Appeal favoured sentences outside prison for possession of up to 100 g of cannabis in its 31 May 2012 Sulua ruling. Fines, community service, counselling and discharge with a strong warning formed the lowest sentencing band. Suspended or short prison terms were reserved for the worst cases within that band.

A broad criminal law needed sentencing guidance

The 2004 drug law covered unauthorised cannabis possession, cultivation, use and supply with the same maximum penalty: a FJ$1 million fine, life imprisonment, or both. Giving cannabis to another person fell within its definition of supply.

The legislation left substantial room for courts to decide sentences. The appeal court’s guidelines organised that discretion around the weight of the cannabis, giving judges a common approach for smaller and larger quantities.

Four bands linked weight to punishment

The first band covered possession from zero to 100 g. Its ordinary outcomes allowed a person to avoid a prison term, while preserving the court’s ability to impose custody in the worst cases.

The next band, from 100 g to 1 kg, carried a guideline range of one to three years. The court further distinguished quantities below and above 500 g within that range. Between 1 kg and 4 kg, the range rose to three to seven years. At 4 kg or more, it became seven to fourteen years.

These were judicial sentencing ranges applied within the criminal law. Cannabis possession remained an offence.

Weighing live plants created conflicting results

The guidelines were applied across the conduct listed in the drug law, including cultivation. That created a practical problem: freshly uprooted plants contain water, stems and other material, while the possession guidelines concerned dried cannabis.

Some judges continued using the weight bands for growing. Others developed approaches based on plant numbers and commercial purpose. The resulting differences became central to a later appeal, in which the Legal Aid Commission submitted a table of 33 High Court cases to show the lack of consistency.

Growers eventually received separate guidelines

In May 2023, the appeal court adopted a cultivation approach combining plant count with the offender’s role. Its judgment reproduced the earlier possession bands while explaining why growing required a different assessment.

The change also reached older cases: in May 2024, two growers won reductions of four years each. The cases show how Fiji’s courts developed different sentencing approaches within the same broadly worded drug law.^[1][2][3]