(1) A person who unlawfully produces a dangerous drug is guilty of a crime.
Penalty—
Maximum penalty—
(a) if the dangerous drug is a thing
specified in the Drugs Misuse Regulation 1987, schedule 1 and the quantity of
the thing is of or exceeds the quantity specified in the
Drugs Misuse Regulation 1987, schedule 4 in respect of that thing—25 years
imprisonment; or
(b) if the dangerous drug is a thing specified in the
Drugs Misuse Regulation 1987, schedule 1 and the quantity of the thing is of
or exceeds the quantity specified in the Drugs Misuse Regulation 1987,
schedule 3 but less than the quantity specified in the
Drugs Misuse Regulation 1987, schedule 4 in respect of that thing and the
person convicted—
(i) satisfies the judge constituting the court before
which the person is convicted that when the person committed the offence the
person was a drug dependent person—20 years imprisonment;
(ii) does not so
satisfy the judge constituting the court before which the person is
convicted—25 years imprisonment; or
(c) in any other case where the
dangerous drug is a thing specified in the Drugs Misuse Regulation 1987,
schedule 1 —20 years imprisonment; or
(d) if the dangerous drug is a thing
specified in the Drugs Misuse Regulation 1987, schedule 2 and the quantity of
the thing is of or exceeds the quantity specified in the
Drugs Misuse Regulation 1987, schedule 3 in respect of that thing—20 years
imprisonment; or
(e) in any other case where the dangerous drug is a thing
specified in the Drugs Misuse Regulation 1987, schedule 2 —15 years
imprisonment.
(2) For a dangerous drug that is a thing specified in the
Drugs Misuse Regulation 1987, schedule 1 , part 2 (a
"part 2 drug" ), a reference in subsection (1) to the quantity of the thing is
a reference to the whole weight of all the part 2 drugs (whether of the same
or different types) that the person is convicted of unlawfully producing.
(3)
The Penalties and Sentences Act 1992, section 161Q also states a circumstance
of aggravation for an offence against this section.
(4) An indictment
charging an offence against this section with the circumstance of aggravation
stated in the Penalties and Sentences Act 1992, section 161Q may not be
presented without the consent of a Crown Law Officer.
