JUDGE: ACTIVIST CAN'T PROMOTE POT

Venice Man With Doctor's Permission To Smoke Marijuana Convicted Of Illegal
Cultivation.

VENICE -- Joe "Hemp" Kidwell, a marijuana activist convicted for illegally
cultivating the plant, has been ordered to stop promoting pot or face two
years in prison - a sacrifice he's willing to make to test new marijuana laws.

Kidwell, 45, was sentenced Tuesday for illegally cultivating 14 marijuana
plants at his Lincoln Boulevard office. He was arrested Aug. 10 after a Los
Angeles police officer noticed the plants at his business.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Albert Matthews has banned Kidwell from
promoting marijuana as a condition of his probation and has restricted him
from using marijuana anywhere but in his own home. The order also prevents
him from speaking to the media or speaking publicly on the subject of
marijuana use.

Before his conviction, Kidwell, 45, operated First Hemp Bank Distribution
Network, a buyer's club based in Venice for people who use marijuana as
prescribed by a physician. The judge has also ordered him to stop operation
of that business.

During his May trial, orthopedic physician Dr. Fred Hakmet testified that
he recommended Kidwell use marijuana for his arthritis and chronic back pain.

Since Jan. 1, 1997, state law has permitted the use and cultivation of
marijuana for medical purposes with a physician's verbal or written
recommendation.

"As soon as the law was enacted, we started to test the law," said Ron
Richards, one of Kidwell's attorneys.

Kidwell has one prior misdemeanor conviction for offering an undercover
police officer marijuana in March 1998. Santa Monica police arrested him
May 2 for possession of marijuana after someone reported that he was
smoking pot on the Third Street Promenade.

Police reports show that officers found no marijuana on him. A preliminary
hearing on that case is scheduled June 29.

Richards has filed an appeal on the most recent case stating that Kidwell's
First Amendment rights are being violated by the judge's order and that the
jury misunderstood the law. "This was an illegal conviction," Richards
said. "A medical patient with a written doctor's recommendation is exempt
from the ... laws that he was charged under. He has four written doctor
recommendations and two [doctors] who testified on his behalf."