The sentencing standards for drug trafficking in South Australia established in R v Mangelsdorf (1995) have been revised following the 2007 and 2009 amendments to the Controlled Substances Act 1984 (SA). For mid-level trafficking (sole trader selling to end users, quantity approximately 10% of commercial quantity, motivated partly by profit and partly by addiction), Blue J (Doyle J agreeing) established a range of three to six years, while Kourakis CJ (Vanstone and Stanley JJ agreeing) maintained a range of four to seven years for street-level trafficking. The graduated guilty plea discount under s 10C must be strictly applied according to the timing of the plea, and a defendant who could have pleaded guilty to an information on the basis of specific charged conduct is not entitled to a higher discount merely because the information was framed more broadly. The starting point of imprisonment for blackmail involving threats of physical violence by a member of an outlaw motorcycle gang, even where the threats were relatively moderate, is substantially higher than eight months.
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