84.— Section 27 of the Act of 1977 is amended—

(a) in subsection (3A)—

(i) by the substitution of “an offence under section 15A or 15B of this Act” for “an offence under section 15A”, and

(ii) by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (a):

“(a) to imprisonment for life or such shorter period as the court may determine, subject to subsections (3B) to (3CC) of this section or, where subsection (3CCCC) of this section applies, to that subsection, and”,

(b) by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (3A):

“(3AA) The court, in imposing sentence on a person for an offence under section 15A or 15B of this Act, may, in particular, have regard to whether the person has a previous conviction for a drug trafficking offence.”,

(c) in subsection (3B), by the substitution of “an offence under section 15A or 15B of this Act” for “an offence under section 15A”,

(d) by the insertion of the following subsections after subsection (3C):

“(3CC) The court, in considering for the purposes of subsection (3C) of this section whether a sentence of not less than 10 years imprisonment is unjust in all the circumstances, may have regard, in particular, to—

(a) whether the person convicted of the offence concerned was previously convicted in respect of a drug trafficking offence, and

(b) whether the public interest in preventing drug trafficking would be served by the imposition of a lesser sentence.

(3CCC) Subsections (3B) to (3CC) of this section apply and have effect only in relation to a person convicted of a first offence under section 15A or 15B of this Act (other than a person who falls under paragraph (b) of subsection (3CCCC) of this section), and accordingly references in those first-mentioned subsections to an offence under section 15A or 15B of this Act are to be construed as references to a first such offence.

(3CCCC) Where a person (other than a child or young person)—

(a) is convicted of a second or subsequent offence under section 15A or 15B of this Act, or

(b) is convicted of a first offence under one of those sections and has been convicted under the other of those sections,

the court shall, in imposing sentence, specify as the minimum period of imprisonment to be served by that person a period of not less than 10 years.”,

(e) in subsection (3I), by the substitution of “an offence under section 15A or 15B of this Act” for “an offence under section 15A of this Act” and the substitution of “each of those offences” for “that offence”, and

(f) by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (3J):

“(3K) In subsections (3AA) and (3CC) of this section ‘drug trafficking offence’ has the meaning it has in section 3(1) of the Criminal Justice Act 1994 and in subsection (3CC) of this section ‘drug trafficking’ has the meaning it has in the said section 3(1).”.