A HARSH SENTENCE

U.S.District Judge Garland E.Burrell handed down a harsh and, we believe,
excessive sentence to medical marijuana patient B.E.Smith in a Sacramento
court earlier this month.

Judge Burrell insisted on enhancements that brought the suggested sentence
to somewhere between 21 and 27 months under federal sentencing guidelines.

He tried to talk the prosecution into asking for a heavier sentence, but
even the prosecutors declined, recommending somewhere near a midpoint
between 21 and 27 months.

Judge Burrell sentenced B.E. Smith to the maximum recommended, 27 months in
federal prison.

Mr. Smith is a Vietnam veteran who discovered years ago that marijuana
helped his post-traumatic stress disorder. After voters approved Proposition
215 in 1996, which allowed marijuana use with a doctor's recommendation, Mr.
Smith grew marijuana openly for himself after notifying local law
enforcement and public officials that he was doing so.

Then he started growing it for other people who had designated him as their
primary caregiver, a designation that was also part of Prop. 215. Then
federal officials moved in; federal law says citizens cannot grow or sell
marijuana.

Judge Burrell ruled during the trial that California's law wasn't relevant
in a federal court; so, he didn't allow the jury to hear anything other than
the fact that B.E. Smith had 87 cannabis plants growing. Jurors did not hear
about Mr. Smith's condition and how marijuana helped to relieve it or the
doctor's approval or California's Prop. 215, now the law of the state.

Based on the narrow story allowed in the courtroom, it was no surprise that
the jury found Mr. Smith guilty.

This prosecution and the sentence imposed suggest that B.E. Smith's attorney
was correct when we spoke to him about the case.

About 3 million Californians use marijuana to counter various illnesses,
said attorney David Michael, and as long as they stay underground, the
federal government seems to turn a blind eye. But let someone assert his or
her rights openly, and the federal government will come down hard.

Mr. Smith's case will be appealed.