Where a sentencing judge is informed of and applies the wrong maximum penalty, this error is in itself sufficient justification for the Court of Criminal Appeal to intervene and re-sentence. A sentencing judge must not rely on personal or judicial experience about the psychiatric effects of drugs in the absence of expert evidence. An offender's drug addiction must be treated as a mitigating factor, placing the offence on a lower level of criminality than if committed purely for monetary gain.
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