POT SMOKER TURNS OVER A NEW LEAF

EDMONTON - Cannabis activist Troy Stewart was given a four-month
conditional sentence Thursday for possessing marijuana and for cultivating it.

Stewart, former co-owner of the True North Hemp Company and executive
director of the Cannabis Re-legalization Society of Alberta, said his
guilty pleas won't change his opinion the drug should be legal.

"Absolutely not," he said outside court.

"I just decided to devote my life to my kid, just doing what's best for him
right now."

The Edmonton police "green team" found an 11-plant marijuana growing
operation and 209 grams of the drug last June 5 when they searched
Stewart's home at 10444 84th Ave., Crown prosecutor Greg Rice said.

Stewart later moved to Penticton, B.C., to be near his son. He now has a
job as a carpenter making recreational vehicles, said defence lawyer Mike
Furman.

"He indicated he has no intention (of being arrested again) and he has
changed his lifestyle since these charges."

Court of Queen's Bench Justice Jack Watson, who made sure that Stewart
would not have marijuana in his house, applauded the 33-year-old man's
shift of focus.

"As you get older ... children become the most the most important things
you have."

Stewart will be under house arrest for the next two months except for work,
medical treatment, counselling, weekly shopping and religious services.

He's under a 10 p.m.-6 a.m. curfew for the following two months. He must do
25 hours of volunteer work and isn't allowed to have non-medical drugs.

"It's my strong encouragement to you that, even though you're in a place --
British Columbia -- where by newspaper accounts anyway there's a large
amount of drugs available in the marijuana category, resist," the judge said.

"It's illegal anyway."

Stewart said later he'd still like to see that law repealed: "It's just a
plant ... I don't plan on having any in the house, which is what he asked.
I will adhere to the terms of my conditions."

He organized a 1998 rally in which thousands of marijuana seeds were
planted at Government House Park.

Two years later, a Journal story indicated that Stewart smoked dope every day.

"People who are against pot are really weird about it," he said at the time.

"They believe I must be a drooling idiot and can't conduct myself, and
can't think, and I'm obviously no good to society."

His father Kevin, who now runs the Whyte Avenue hemp store, said he doesn't
think the case will hurt business.

"We're a cannabis store ... our customers, the ones who pay our bills and
pay my staff, they understand.

"The others, why do I care?"