Vanuatu gives community work to a man who grew cannabis to deter rats

Roro Iauko grew twenty-six cannabis plants to deter pests, mainly rats, from his garden. Vanuatu’s Supreme Court accepted that explanation but still convicted him of unlawful cultivation, imposing sixty hours of community service on 15 May 2017.^[1]

A garden planted for pest control

Iauko had planted the cannabis in 2016 on land at Rentapau Dark Bush. After a police complaint, he admitted what he had grown, cooperated with officers and explained the horticultural purpose of the crop. The plants were uprooted and he was charged.^[1]

The court accepted that the cannabis was intended neither for his own consumption nor for someone else’s. Justice David Chetwynd noted the historical use of hemp as a barrier crop, as well as its better-known use for fibre.^[1]

The explanation therefore affected how the court understood the case, even though Iauko accepted that growing the plants broke the law.^[1]

Horticultural purpose did not provide a defence

The drug law prohibited cultivating plants of the cannabis genus. It separately defined cannabis broadly while excluding mature stalks and their fibre once separated from the plant.^[2]

Iauko’s living plants were subject to the cultivation rule. The judge said using them for a purely horticultural purpose provided no defence, and Iauko pleaded guilty.^[1]

The distinction was between the offence and the punishment: the reason for growing could affect the sentence even though it did not make the cultivation lawful.^[1]

The judge chose community service

The court applied the 2013 cultivation guidance, which separated personal growing from small and large commercial operations. It placed Iauko’s conduct at the lower end of the first category.^[1]

His lawyer did not attend the sentencing hearing. The judge considered the prosecution submissions and pre-sentence report, then invited Iauko to speak. He apologised, accepted responsibility and said he would not repeat the conduct. The judge regarded that remorse as genuine.^[1]

The resulting sentence was sixty hours of community service under a probation officer’s supervision.^[1]

Industrial licensing arrived later

The licensing law that began in January 2022 later created a controlled industry route for industrial hemp and medical cannabis. It defined hemp at no more than 0.3% delta-9 THC on a dry-weight basis and required licences for the activities it covered.^[3]

Iauko’s case came before that industry law. It remains an example in Vanuatu’s history of a court recognising a grower’s purpose when choosing punishment, while enforcing the cultivation offence.^[1]