A starting point of eight years imprisonment for trafficking in methylamphetamine under s 32(3) of the Controlled Substances Act 1984 (SA), where the maximum penalty is 10 years, is manifestly excessive where the quantity involved (197.15g mixed, 8g pure) represents approximately 40 per cent of the commercial quantity threshold, because it leaves insufficient scope in the sentencing range for more serious offenders trafficking in greater quantities still below the s 32(2) threshold. The parity principle does not apply to persons who are not co-offenders merely because they were coincidentally arrested at the same time and place.
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