A sentence of three-and-a-half years' imprisonment with a two-year minimum for cultivation of 249 cannabis plants (a relatively small commercial quantity with an estimated yield of 2.6 kg) is within the permissible range, though at the severe end. Quantity remains a very important consideration in assessing offence seriousness for commercial quantity cultivation, and the absence of prior convictions is of limited relevance to such offences. The interaction between paragraphs (a) and (ab) of s 72(1) of the Drugs, Poisons and Controlled Substances Act 1981 was noted as unclear but not resolved.
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