SINGAPORE — A teenager who cultivated six cannabis plants here was placed on probation for 36 months and ordered to perform 240 hours of community service yesterday.

Adith Sarvotham, 18, was also convicted of consuming cannabis and trafficking diamorphine.

Arguing for him to be placed on probation, defence lawyers said he had planted the cannabis seeds as he was curious if they would grow here. Prosecutors objected, however, saying drug trafficking was a serious offence.

But District Judge Soh Tze Bian said he was “unable to agree with the prosecution’s broad-brush approach against the grant of probation to every young trafficker”.

It cannot be in the public’s interest to jail every young drug offender and expose them to the negative influences of “hardened criminals in the prison environment”, he added.

Adith was sentenced to a voluntary stay at The New Charis Mission for 12 months and six months’ electronic tagging thereafter. His family also paid a S$5,000 bond.

For cultivating cannabis, he could have been jailed between three and 20 years and fined up to S$40,000.