Complex mental health conditions (borderline intellectual impairment, ADHD, stimulant use disorder) interlinked with drug addiction can significantly lessen moral culpability where the offender was introduced to drugs at an impressionable age and has a dual diagnosis, even where the offending pattern is long-standing. An offender with such conditions is a poor vehicle for general deterrence, but personal deterrence and community protection remain important. Where a court has no discretion to order concurrent statutory driving disqualification periods under s 32(5) of the Road Transport (Driver Licensing) Act 1999 (ACT), the result may be a very lengthy cumulative disqualification (here, 24 years for 12 offences).
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