Where an offender traffics in drugs solely to satisfy their own drug addiction, they must be sentenced on the basis that they were trafficking at the lowest level, and a finding that they 'profited' from trafficking cannot be sustained on the criminal standard of proof where the evidence shows the funds were used solely to acquire drugs to feed their addiction. Drug addiction which played a role in the commission of the offence is relevant to both moral culpability and rehabilitation, and the circumstances in which the offender became addicted (including age, disadvantage, and family dysfunction) bear upon moral culpability. Sentencing remarks must be sufficiently detailed to enable identification of the principal factors influencing the sentencing decision, and an unusually high non-parole period requires reasons.
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