HIGH-PROFILE POT USER SENTENCED

SACRAMENTO, Aug. 6 (UPI) A self-declared medical marijuana user has received
a maximum federal sentence in Sacramento of 27 months in prison.

U.S. District Judge Garland Burrell Jr. imposed the penalty today on B.E.
Smith, a 52-year-old Trinity County man who said he had a prescription under
California's medical marijuana law to relieve problems related to Vietnam
War service. Burrell ruled out any defense under Proposition 215, declaring
that marijuana use is illegal under federal law, and he cited evidence that
Smith had sold marijuana to others for $500 a pound.

Smith called the judge "shortsighted, ignorant and cruel," but Burrell said
the defendant was to blame for his sentence, and that only Congress can make
exceptions to the prohibition of marijuana not the states.

At one point in his trial, Burrell also clashed with actor Woody Harrelson,
who spoke in Smith's defense and chided the judge for not recognizing
Proposition 215.

The 1996 voter-approved initiative allows doctors to prescribe marijuana for
the relief of pain and other symptoms.

Smith's case has been closedly watched as a possible precedent for medical
marijuana defenses in the nine states and two territorial possessions
covered by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.

His attorney says he'll ask the court to overturn Smith's conviction.