When sentencing for a principal drug cultivation offence, a sentencing judge may properly consider conduct that is also the subject of separate charges (such as electricity diversion) as part of the sophistication of the cultivation, provided the potential for double punishment is addressed at the stage of sentencing for the subsidiary offences. Partial accumulation of a supply sentence with a cultivation sentence is warranted where the supply charge involves indicia of supply beyond mere harvesting. A plea of guilty to cultivating a commercial quantity of cannabis plants under s 23(2)(a) DMTA necessarily concedes cultivation by enhanced indoor means where the number of plants is below the non-enhanced commercial quantity threshold.
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