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Daniel Brown Law defends cannabis production and grow-op charges in Toronto, Ontario. In Ontario an adult can legally grow up to four cannabis plants per household, at home, from legal seeds or plants. Growing a fifth or sixth plant can be dealt with by a $200 ticket. Beyond that, or with illicit seed, or anywhere other than your home, it is a criminal offence under section 12 of the Cannabis Act with a maximum of 14 years.
Cannabis production is no longer prosecuted under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. Since the Cannabis Act came into force on 17 October 2018, cannabis has been removed from the CDSA schedules and unlawful cultivation is charged under section 12 of the Cannabis Act instead.
That does not make growing cannabis lawful in every circumstance. Section 12 makes it an offence to cultivate cannabis from a seed or plant material that you know is illicit cannabis, and to grow more than four cannabis plants at any one time in a dwelling-house — a limit that applies to the household collectively, not to each adult living in it. It is also an offence to grow cannabis anywhere other than your own dwelling-house.
Producing other controlled substances — cocaine, methamphetamine, fentanyl and the rest — remains a CDSA offence and is dealt with separately below.
Once it is prosecuted as a criminal charge, penalties for this type of offence can include a period of jail time even for unsophisticated grow operations.
Daniel Brown Law is an experienced drug defence firm in Toronto, Ontario. To discuss your case, call Daniel Brown Law at (416) 297-7200 or continue reading to learn more about defending cannabis grow-op cases in Toronto, Ontario.
- Legal at home
- Four plantsPer household, from legal seed or plants
- Five or six plants
- $200 ticketPlus surcharge; if police choose a ticket
- Maximum penalty
- 14 yearsOn indictment; hybrid offence
- Minimum sentence
- NoneThe Cannabis Act has never had one
How many cannabis plants can you grow in Ontario?
What turns a home grow into a criminal charge is the plant count, the seed and the place.
The count is per dwelling-house: the home where you ordinarily live, including its yard, garden and any building on that land (Cannabis Act s. 12(8)). Two adults in the same house share one limit of four (s. 12(5)). A cottage or a friend’s property where you do not ordinarily live is not your dwelling-house, so a single plant grown there is an offence under s. 12(6)(a). Young people aged 12 to 17 may not grow any plants (s. 12(7)), and in Ontario the minimum age is 19.
A ticket is not automatic. If the officer does issue one and it is paid on time, a finding of guilt is entered but the person is deemed to have received an absolute discharge, and the record cannot be used to identify them as someone dealt with under the Act (ss. 51(3), 52). Possessing more than four plants that are not yet budding or flowering is a separate offence, also ticketable at five or six plants (ss. 8(1)(e), 51(2)(b)).
What is the legal definition of “produce”?
Under the Cannabis Act, “produce” means to obtain cannabis by any method or process, including:
- (a) manufacturing;
- (b) synthesis;
- (c) altering its chemical or physical properties by any means; or
- (d) cultivating, propagating or harvesting it, or any living thing from which it may be extracted or otherwise obtained.
Offers to produce cannabis are also captured: section 12 makes it an offence to offer to obtain cannabis, or to offer to cultivate, propagate or harvest it, outside the limits. An offer made to an undercover officer can be the whole offence, which is where the law of entrapment can come in.
The CDSA uses a comparable definition of “produce” for other controlled substances: to obtain the substance by any method or process, including manufacturing, synthesizing or using any means of altering its chemical or physical properties, or cultivating, propagating or harvesting it or any living thing from which it may be extracted or otherwise obtained (CDSA s. 2(1)). Unlike the Cannabis Act, the CDSA definition itself includes an offer to produce.
Neither Act defines “cultivate” on its own. Section 12 simply prohibits anyone who is not authorized from cultivating, propagating or harvesting a cannabis plant outside the limits, and separately prohibits altering cannabis with an explosive or highly flammable organic solvent such as butane (s. 12(1)(b), (3)). Illicit cannabis means cannabis sold, produced or distributed by someone the federal or a provincial Act prohibits from doing so, or imported illegally (s. 2).
What must the prosecutor prove in a cannabis production or cannabis grow-op case?
To prove unlawful cannabis production, the Crown must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the substance grown was cannabis, that the accused knew it was cannabis, and that they produced it or aided in its production. Because cultivation is lawful within the limits the Cannabis Act sets, the Crown must also establish what takes the case outside those limits — typically that the plants were grown from seed or plant material known to be illicit cannabis, or that the four-plant household limit was exceeded.
It was cannabis
The substance
The plants or product must be proved to be cannabis, not some other plant.
You knew it was cannabis
Knowledge
Knowledge that the plants were cannabis. Where the charge rests on illicit seed, knowledge that the seed or plant material was illicit too (s. 12(4)(a)).
You produced it or helped
Participation
That the accused grew, tended or harvested the plants, or aided someone who did. The Crown has to connect this person to the growing.
It fell outside the limits
The limit crossed
More than four plants in the household, illicit seed, a place that is not your dwelling-house, solvent extraction, or production beyond what a medical registration allows.
If someone is found not guilty of producing cannabis, can they be found guilty of another offence such as possessing it?
If the accused person is only charged with producing or cultivating cannabis, they cannot be found guilty of possessing the substance unless they already face that charge and the evidence supports that they were in possession. Possessing cannabis is not a lesser offence of cultivating or producing it. Follow the link to learn more about drug possession charges and drug trafficking.
Possession is itself an offence under the Cannabis Act in some situations: possessing cannabis you know is illicit, more than 30 grams of dried cannabis (or its equivalent) in public, or more than four plants that are not yet budding or flowering (s. 8(1)). Police often lay these alongside a cultivation charge.
Are there ways to defend against an allegation of cannabis production?
Because grow-ops and other drug production cases typically involve private property such as houses and farms, search warrants are the most common method used by the police to collect evidence. When a search warrant is obtained improperly, the evidence may be barred from the trial. In cannabis grow-op cases, faulty warrants are the single most common reason why the prosecution fails to secure a conviction.
Evidence obtained in breach of s. 8 of the Charter, the right to be secure against unreasonable search or seizure, can be excluded under s. 24(2).
The search warrant
Attacks: the search
A warrant under s. 87 of the Cannabis Act or the Criminal Code needs reasonable grounds sworn under oath. The defence tests whether it could have issued on what was sworn, once misleading or missing information is accounted for (R v Garofoli, [1990] 2 SCR 1421).
Heat and hydro evidence
Attacks: the grounds
Police often build grounds from heat images and electricity use. Neither is conclusive: in R v Gomboc, 2010 SCC 55, hydro data was one piece added to other observations, and the evidence was that it dispelled the suspicion in about half of the cases where it was used.
Who actually grew it
Attacks: knowledge and control
Tenants, family members and landlords can all be connected to a property. The Crown must prove this accused knew of the plants and took part in growing them.
The count and the place
Attacks: the limit
Plants must be counted properly, per household, and a medical registration may authorize far more than four. Whether the site was your dwelling-house decides which limit applies.
Can police use heat cameras or hydro records without a warrant?
Sometimes. In R v Tessling, 2004 SCC 67, the RCMP flew over a house with a forward-looking infrared (FLIR) camera. The Supreme Court held that the heat pattern on the outside of a home reveals nothing about the private life inside, so taking the image was not a search, and the warrant that followed, based on the image and two informants, stood.
In R v Gomboc, 2010 SCC 55, police had the power company put a digital recording ammeter on the line to a suspected grow-op. A majority held that this did not breach s. 8, relying on what the meter could reveal and on the Alberta regulation that let utilities share customer information with police unless the customer asked them not to. Both cases turned on the technology and the rules of the day, and on police already having other grounds. They do not let police enter or search a home without a warrant.
What if you are registered to grow cannabis for medical purposes?
A medical registration is an authorization under the Cannabis Act, and the offences in section 12 only apply “unless authorized”. It covers what is on the certificate: the site, the indoor or outdoor split and the plant count that flows from the daily quantity. Growing beyond it, or at another address, is not authorized.
Registered with Health Canada
The registration
Personal production for medical purposes needs a registration issued on the strength of a medical document (Cannabis Regulations, Part 14, ss. 312–313).
A plant count by formula
The limit
The number of plants is set by a formula tied to the daily quantity in the medical document and whether the grow is indoors or outdoors (s. 325).
Limits on growers and sites
The site
A person can produce under no more than two registrations, and no site can hold more than four (s. 317).
Someone growing for a patient as a designated person must be an adult who has not been convicted of a designated cannabis offence or a controlled substance offence in the past ten years (s. 311). Ontario’s Cannabis Control Act, 2017 does not apply to medical cannabis grown under the federal regulations (s. 5(1)).
Does Ontario limit home growing?
Not beyond the federal rule. Ontario adds no plant limit of its own: an adult household may grow four plants. What Ontario adds is an older minimum age of 19 (a provincial fine of up to $200 for a younger grower) and a ban on growing in a home where child care is provided, with fines of up to $1,000 for a first conviction and $5,000 after that (ss. 23(5), 23(9)). Provinces can go further: the Supreme Court upheld Quebec’s complete ban in Murray-Hall v Quebec (Attorney General), 2023 SCC 10.
| Province | Home growing | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Ontario | Allowed: the federal limit of four plants per household. Minimum age 19. No growing in a home where child care is provided (since 1 January 2025). | Cannabis Control Act, 2017, ss. 10(2), 13.1 |
| Quebec | Banned: possessing a cannabis plant and growing it for personal use are both prohibited. Fine of $250 to $750, doubled for a repeat offence. | Cannabis Regulation Act, ss. 5, 10; upheld in Murray-Hall, 2023 SCC 10 |
| Manitoba | Allowed since 1 May 2025: adults 19 and over may grow up to four plants in their residence. The earlier ban was repealed. | Liquor, Gaming and Cannabis Control Act, s. 101.26.1 |
What are the penalties for producing cannabis?
Unlawful cannabis production is a hybrid offence. Prosecuted by indictment, section 12 of the Cannabis Act carries a maximum of 14 years’ imprisonment. On summary conviction the maximum is a fine of $5,000, six months in jail, or both. There is no mandatory minimum sentence — the Cannabis Act has never had one, and Parliament repealed the mandatory minimums for drug offences in 2022.
| Offence | Section | Indictment | Summary conviction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Growing more than four plants, from illicit seed, or away from home | s. 12(4)–(6), (9) | 14 years | $5,000 and/or 6 months |
| Five or six plants, by ticket | s. 51(2)(g), (h), 51(4) | — | $200 plus surcharge |
| Possessing more than four non-flowering plants | s. 8(1)(e), 8(2) | 5 years less a day | $5,000 and/or 6 months |
| Possessing equipment or anything else to produce illicit cannabis | s. 13 | 7 years | $5,000 and/or 6 months |
| Involving a young person in production | s. 14 | 14 years | $5,000 and/or 6 months |
In sentencing someone for producing cannabis, the court will look at a number of factors to determine an appropriate sentence. These considerations can include the number of plants produced, the level of sophistication in the operation, the quality of the drug being produced as well as the circumstances of the offender and their past criminal history.
The Cannabis Act adds its own aggravating factors: carrying or using a weapon, using or threatening violence, dealing near a school or other place young people gather, and a prior cannabis or drug conviction (s. 15(2)). A judge can also delay sentencing so the person can take part in a drug treatment court program (s. 15(4)).
What about producing other drugs?
Producing any other controlled substance without authorization is an offence under section 7 of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. Making methamphetamine or growing psilocybin mushrooms is production in the same way that growing plants is. The penalty depends on the schedule the drug is in.
| Substance | Section | Indictment | Summary conviction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Schedule I or II: cocaine, heroin, fentanyl, methamphetamine and others | s. 7(2)(a) | Life | Indictable only |
| Schedule III or V | s. 7(2)(c) | 10 years | 18 months |
| Schedule IV | s. 7(2)(d) | 3 years | 1 year |
Section 7 no longer carries a mandatory minimum. The minimums added in 2012 were repealed in 2022 (S.C. 2022, c. 15, s. 17). Bill C-16 (S.C. 2026, c. 19) restored Criminal Code minimums that courts had struck down, but it did not bring back the CDSA’s: section 7 has not been amended since 2022. For trafficking and possession for the purpose of trafficking in these drugs, see drug trafficking.
What are the consequences of a cannabis grow-op conviction?
The consequences of a cannabis production or cultivation conviction can include:
- job loss
- fines, probation, and possible imprisonment
- problems with immigration including deportation, permanent residence, and citizenship applications
- being deemed ineligible for certain professions, jobs, and opportunities
- being denied entry into the United States or other countries
- living with the social stigma of a criminal record
- risk of the conviction being reported publicly in the media
- obtaining a criminal record that will be stored and accessible in the national CPIC database
For a permanent resident or visitor, see immigration consequences of a criminal charge. Criminal record: Permanent.
Daniel Brown Law can be reached for a consultation about your case at (416) 297-7200.
Why Choose Daniel Brown Law?
Daniel Brown Law is a leading Canadian criminal defence firm. In a grow-op case, how police got into the property is usually the first thing our lawyers examine.
A nationally recognized defence firm
Ranked among Canada’s top criminal law boutiques by Canadian Lawyer, listed for criminal defence by The Globe and Mail and Best Law Firms, and voted Best Law Firm and Best Legal Services by Toronto Star readers.
Search warrant challenges
Our lawyers take the warrant apart: what police swore, what they left out, and how the heat, hydro and informant evidence was gathered, then bring the Charter applications the record supports.
From the first call to appeal
Our team advises after arrest, runs bail hearings, defends the case at trial and argues appeals at the Court of Appeal for Ontario and the Supreme Court of Canada.
Recognized by the profession and the public
Daniel Brown Law is ranked among Canada’s top criminal law boutiques by Canadian Lawyer, listed by The Globe and Mail and Best Law Firms for criminal defence, and voted Best Legal Services by Toronto Star readers. Five of its lawyers are recognized by Best Lawyers in Canada for criminal defence.
Best Law Firms: Criminal Law
The Globe and Mail, 2026
Top Criminal Law Boutique
Canadian Lawyer, 2026–27
Criminal Defence, Tier 1
Best Law Firms Canada, 2027
Best Lawyers in Canada
Criminal Defence, 2027
Toronto Star Readers’ Choice
Best Law Firm and Best Legal Services, repeat winner
Crime, Nationwide
Chambers Canada, 2027
The firm and its lawyers have been repeatedly recognized for excellence in criminal defence:
- Canada’s Best Law Firms 2026 — The Globe and Mail (Report on Business)
- Canada’s Top Criminal Law Boutiques 2026–27 — Canadian Lawyer Magazine
- Best Law Firms 2027 — Criminal Defence and Appellate Practice (Best Lawyers / Best Law Firms)
- Best Lawyers in Canada — Criminal Defence — Daniel Brown, Hilary Dudding, Mark Halfyard, Lindsay Board and Colleen McKeown
- Toronto Star Readers’ Choice Awards — Best Law Firm and Best Legal Services, repeat winner
- Chambers Canada 2027 — ranked for Crime, nationwide, by Chambers and Partners
- Certified Specialists in Criminal Law — Law Society of Ontario (Daniel Brown and Mark Halfyard — fewer than 2% of Ontario criminal lawyers hold this designation)
Frequently asked questions about cannabis production charges
Short answers to the questions people ask about growing cannabis and grow-op charges.
Home growing and the limits
How many cannabis plants can you grow in Ontario?
Four per household, at any one time, in the home where you ordinarily live, grown from legal seeds or plants. The limit is shared by everyone in the home, not four each (Cannabis Act s. 12(4), (5)). You must be 19 in Ontario.
What is the penalty for growing more than four plants in Ontario?
For five or six plants police may issue a ticket: $200 plus the victim surcharge and fees (s. 51). Otherwise it is a hybrid criminal offence with a maximum of 14 years on indictment, or $5,000 and six months on summary conviction (s. 12(9)).
Can I grow cannabis at my cottage or on someone else’s property?
No. Home growing is allowed only at your own dwelling-house, the home where you ordinarily live and its yard and outbuildings. Growing anywhere else is an offence under s. 12(6)(a), whatever the plant count.
Does Ontario have its own home-grow rules?
Ontario follows the federal four-plant limit. It sets the minimum age at 19 and bans growing in a home where child care is provided (Cannabis Control Act, 2017, ss. 10(2), 13.1). Quebec bans home growing altogether.
Does a medical registration let me grow more?
Yes, within the registration. A Health Canada registration under Part 14 of the Cannabis Regulations sets the site and a plant count by formula. Growing beyond it, or somewhere else, is not authorized.
The charge
What is the legal definition of “produce”?
To obtain cannabis by any method or process, including manufacturing, synthesis, altering its chemical or physical properties, or cultivating, propagating or harvesting it (Cannabis Act s. 2). Offers to produce are also captured.
What must the prosecutor prove in a cannabis production or cannabis grow-op case?
That the substance was cannabis, that the accused knew it was, that they produced it or aided in its production, and what takes the case outside the lawful limits: illicit seed, more than four plants in the household, a place other than their home, or solvent extraction.
If someone is found not guilty of producing cannabis, can they be found guilty of another offence such as possessing it?
Only if they also face a possession charge and the evidence supports that they were in possession. Possessing cannabis is not a lesser offence of cultivating or producing it.
Defences and penalties
Are there ways to defend against an allegation of cannabis production?
Yes. Most grow-op evidence comes from a search warrant, and an improperly obtained warrant can lead to the evidence being excluded under s. 24(2) of the Charter. Knowledge, participation and the plant count can also be contested.
Can police use heat cameras or hydro records to get a warrant?
They can use them as part of their grounds. A FLIR heat image of a house was not a search in R v Tessling, 2004 SCC 67, and a hydro meter installed by the utility at police request was not a breach in R v Gomboc, 2010 SCC 55. Neither lets police enter a home without a warrant.
What are the penalties for producing cannabis?
A maximum of 14 years on indictment, or a fine of $5,000, six months in jail, or both on summary conviction. There is no mandatory minimum. The court weighs the number of plants, sophistication, quality and the offender’s circumstances and record.
What are the consequences of a cannabis grow-op conviction?
Job loss, fines, probation or jail, immigration problems, barriers to some professions, being refused entry to the United States or other countries, stigma, media reports and a criminal record stored on CPIC.
Charges we defend
Learn more about some of the charges we defend. We also defend charges not listed here.
- Arson
- Assault
- Attempted murder
- Bail hearings
- Bail pending appeal
- Break and enter
- Child luring
- Child pornography (CSAEM)
- Coercive control
- Criminal appeals
- Criminal harassment
- Criminal negligence
- Dangerous driving
- Distributing an intimate image
- Domestic assault
- Drug possession
- Drug trafficking
- Extortion
- Extradition
- Fail to appear at court
- Fail to comply with bail
- Failing to remain at the scene
- Firearm and weapon possession
- Firearms trafficking
- Forcible confinement
- Fraud
- Impaired driving
- Importing drugs
- Mischief
- Murder and manslaughter
- Obstruct police
- Peace bonds
- Pointing or using a firearm
- Public mischief
- Refusing a breath sample
- Robbery
- Sexual assault
- Sexual exploitation
- Theft and shoplifting
- Uttering threats
- Voyeurism
- Weapon for a dangerous purpose
- Young offenders
Charged after a grow-op search? Talk to Daniel Brown Law
If police have searched your home or charged you with producing cannabis, speak to a lawyer before speaking to police. To arrange a consultation with Daniel Brown Law, contact our team or call our office at (416) 297-7200.
Phone: (416) 297-7200
Office: Daniel Brown Law, 400–103 Church St., Toronto, ON M5C 2G3