Where an offender has foreknowledge that drug use leads to offending and consciously reverts to drug use after a period of abstinence, the drug use may properly be treated as an aggravating factor in sentencing, even where the offender has a longstanding addiction. The totality principle applies where a sentence derives in part from a reclaimed parole period under s 16(3B) of the Sentencing Act 1991, but a court must not override the legislative policy of that provision, and the circumstances in which appellate intervention will be warranted may prove uncommon.
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