In sentencing for cannabis production offences, the mere characterisation of the offending as having a 'commercial element' is insufficient to justify actual incarceration. The sentencing court must assess the individual offender's personal culpability in respect of the production for profit, having regard to the Applewaite & Jones factors including the offender's role (principal, profit-sharer, paid worker, or peripheral helper), the degree of planning and criminality, and standard mitigating factors. A peripheral participant with low personal culpability may receive a suspended sentence even where the enterprise itself was commercial.
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