Know Your Script
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Renting & tenancy · Western Australia

Can I grow my own if I have a prescription in Western Australia?

The law is settled

The short answer

No. Western Australia makes it an offence to possess or cultivate a prohibited plant, and cannabis is one. The defence a prescribed patient would reach for is written so that it answers the possession limb only - it does not reach cultivation.

General information, not advice. This page describes the law as at the last-checked date shown at the foot of it. It does not take your circumstances into account, and small differences in circumstances change outcomes. If a decision turns on this, speak to someone qualified about your own situation.

What the law actually says

Misuse of Drugs Act 1981 (WA), consolidated version 08-i0-00, in force from 13 May 2026.

The offence. s 7(2): “A person who has in his or her possession or cultivates a prohibited plant commits a simple offence.” Cannabis is a prohibited plant — s 4(2)(b) applies the Act to the plants listed in Schedule II, and item 3 of that Schedule is Cannabis.

What “cultivate” covers. The definition in s 3 is wide: “to cultivate, in relation to a prohibited plant, includes to grow, sow or scatter the seed produced by, or to plant, nurture, tend or harvest, the prohibited plant”.

The defence, and its limit. s 7(3) is drafted around possession:

> “A person does not commit a crime under subsection (1) or a simple offence under subsection (2) by reason only of the person having in his or her possession a prohibited plant if the person proves that — (a) he or she was authorised by or under this Act, the Medicines and Poisons Act 2014 or the Voluntary Assisted Dying Act 2019 to have possession of a prohibited drug obtainable from the plant”

The words by reason only of the person having in his or her possession are what decide it. The subsection answers the possession limb of s 7(2) and is silent on the cultivation limb, so an authority to possess the medicine is not an answer to a charge of growing the plant. This is the same drafting pattern as the Northern Territory's s 42.

Where it stops being the lesser offence. s 11(b) deems a person who cultivates a number of plants not less than the number set in Schedule VI to be cultivating with intent to sell or supply, unless the contrary is proved. For Cannabis that number is 10 (Schedule VI item 3). At or above it the charge starts as the crime in s 7(1), and displacing the presumption is the accused's job.

What happens if it goes wrong

Maximum penalties, read off s 34 of the Act as consolidated at 13 May 2026:

  • s 7(2), the simple offence of possessing or cultivating a prohibited plant: a fine not exceeding $2 000, or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years, or both — s 34(1)(e).
  • s 7(1), the crime, where the matter relates only to cannabis and not to cannabis resin or any other derivative: a fine not exceeding $20 000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years, or both, if sentenced by the District Court or the Supreme Court; a fine not exceeding $5 000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 4 years, or both, if sentenced by a summary court — s 34(2).

What not to do

  • Do not treat an authority to possess your medicine as an authority to grow the plant. In WA the defence is confined to possession in its own words.
  • Do not assume ten plants is a safe ceiling. At ten the Act presumes an intention to sell or supply, and it is for you to prove otherwise.
  • Do not rely on a friend's account of the law in another state. This is one of the areas where the states differ most.

Sources

Cite this page

Know Your Script, ‘A prescription does not authorise cultivation in WA’ (Western Australia), https://www.knowyourscript.com.au/tenancy/growing-at-home-lease/wa/ (last checked 2026-08-11, publisher-checked, not reviewed by a practitioner).

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