JOE HEMP' CONVICTED ON POSSESSION CHARGES

LOUISVILLE -- A man who calls himself "Joe Hemp" took his crusade for
medicinal marijuana use to court, where he lost.

Joe M. Kidwell was charged with two counts of possessing pot, most
recently for brandishing it in the Hall of Justice. It took Jefferson
District Judge James Green only 20 minutes to find Kidwell guilty.

Kidwell, 47, was sentenced to 90 days' probation on Tuesday and
conditionally discharged for two years. Assistant County Attorney
Nader Shunnarah said he recommended the sentence in part because
Kidwell lacked a serious criminal record in Kentucky.

Kidwell says he hasn't gone more than three days in three years
without smoking marijuana -- for medical purposes only -- since he
hurt his back in a car accident.

Kidwell conceded that he possessed marijuana, but said he was forced
to decide between disobeying the law or suffering the consequences of
various maladies that he says are best relieved by a puff or two.

The prosecution countered that Kidwell was hardly the poster boy for
medicinal marijuana use. He doesn't suffer from cancer or glaucoma,
two diseases for which it is often prescribed in the states that
permit it. If everybody with lower back pain used marijuana, 60
percent of Americans would be lighting up, Shunnarah said.

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 8-0 that federal law does not
allow a "medical necessity" exception to the prohibition on marijuana
distribution. The decision dealt a setback to the movement that has
passed medical marijuana ballot initiatives in eight states. In
Kentucky, medically prescribed marijuana has never been permitted by
law. Green held that Kidwell could have turned to any number of legal
medications for pain relief.

The judge also rejected Kidwell's other defense -- that by taxing
marijuana, Kentucky implies that possessing it must be legal for those
who pay the tax.

Kidwell has a fledgling Kentucky business called "Joe Hemp First Hemp
Bank." He said in an interview Tuesday that he would at least
temporarily abort a plan to provide medicinal marijuana to customers
in Kentucky. He and a partner testified that they were poised to do
that out of an office in eastern Jefferson County.