In drug trafficking sentencing, the weight of drugs trafficked is only one of many factors to be synthesised; selecting it as the chief factor represents a departure from fundamental principle. Where a co-offender's sentence is inappropriately low, parity principles cannot be used to reduce a sentence that is already toward the bottom end of the range. Differences in personal circumstances, roles, timing of guilty pleas, and prior criminal history between co-offenders may justify significant differences in sentences even where the weight of drugs involved is comparable or lower.
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