MEDICAL-MARIJUANA ACTIVIST FINED $500 FOR LIGHTING UP FIVE JOINTS AT
PRO-POT RALLY

VICTORIA - A medical-marijuana activist was fined $500 Wednesday for
lighting up five joints at a pro-pot rally.

Leon Edward (Ted) Smith, 35, was found guilty of marijuana trafficking
after he lit up five marijuana joints at the rally at the University of
Victoria in November 2000.

A provincial court judge rejected Smith's arguments that he had a
constitutional right to smoke marijuana.

"His behaviour could only be described as poking his finger in the eye of
the law," said Judge Judith Kay. "What Mr. Smith was doing was illegal.
What Mr. Smith was doing is trafficking."

Smith spoke to about 40 people at the rally. He talked about the benefits
of marijuana and his objections to the law prohibiting it, then lit up five
joints and passed them out to the crowd.

After the rally, plainclothes officers who had stood in the crowd moved in
and arrested Smith, a former Victoria mayoral candidate and one-time
university rugby player in Ontario.

Smith's lawyer argued for a conditional discharge, saying it would be
unfair to sentence his client for sharing a joint when millions of
Canadians regularly do the same thing.

Outside court, Smith said he will continue his campaign to change Canada's
marijuana laws, but will think twice about smoking marijuana in public.