DRUG DEALER: Baden John Plummer pleaded guilty to 19 charges in the Rockhampton Supreme Court.

The Rocky drug dealer who couldn't deal with not dealing

AFTER a decade of escalating drug offending and countless wasted chances, it was time for Baden John Plummer to pay the piper.

He had spent 361 days pre-sentence custody considering where he went wrong before his appearance for sentencing in Rockhampton Supreme Court yesterday.

Plummer, 28, faced a total of 19 charges with the major counts being for possessing a dangerous drug, supplying dangerous drugs, possessing a dangerous drug in excess of 2g and possessing property obtained from supplying drugs.

To put the sentencing into context, Justice Graeme Crow recounted Plummer's criminal history, listing crime after increasingly severe crime, specifically flagging each opportunity provided by the court system to turn his life around.

Detailing the latest round of offending, the court heard how every time Plummer was released, he soon ran afoul of the law.

Several times when police searched him, his property, his hotel rooms or his phone, they uncovered evidence of high purity drug possession in sizeable quantities, drug utensils, proceeds of crime and evidence of drug supply.

Police once observed him carrying out a drug deal in broad daylight, with thousands of dollars in his pocket he claimed to have been given to him by his grandmother.

Defence Barrister Scott Moon said Plummer had made efforts to work and rehabilitate in prison and after spending a recent birthday incarcerated, was very motivated not to return saying he was "genuinely on the path to change".

He tendered a letter of contrition from Plumber and letters of support from Plummer's family, who were in the gallery, offering him support, accommodation and employment upon release.

Mr Crow couldn't fathom why Plummer had continued on this path given his family's support saying that repeat drug offending was more typical for people coming from broken homes or having a history of sexual abuse.

"Specific deterrence is important because you've been a repeat offender," he said.

"You've brought the misery of the methyl-amphetamine which has affected your life, potentially into many others."

For every gram of meth Plummer sold, he estimated 10 families were destroyed, which was why his drug supply crimes attracted maximum penalties of 20 to 25 years in prison.

"The reason why the commercial possessions and supply of dangerous drugs is so serious is because people in their lives have ups and downs," Mr Crow said.

"As soon as they can find someone with methyl-amphetamine that can give them a point, that down can be a very big down and a down for a number of years.

"Some people never get off the drug, some people kill themselves and the others continue to offend will simply be locked up for the rest of their lives."

He recognised Plummer's efforts to rehabilitate in prison and willingness to reintegrate into society by entering into employment and university studies.

Plummer was sentenced to 3.5 years imprisonment and given time already served, set a parole date of December 10, 2018, with an operational period of 3.5 years.