For cultivation of large commercial quantities of cannabis, an offender at an intermediate level in the criminal organisation should receive a starting point of approximately eight years before discounts. Where a Form 1 offence involves a similar offence of comparable severity, the sentence should be increased by one to two years. Section 23(2) of the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 (NSW) imposes mandatory considerations that must be expressly addressed when a lesser penalty is imposed on account of assistance to authorities, and s 23(3) requires that the resulting sentence not be unreasonably disproportionate to the nature and circumstances of the offence.
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