"JOE HEMP" GOES TO COURT

LOS ANGELES - A convicted marijuana grower who calls himself
"Joe Hemp" was ordered to either give up his drug activism or go to
prison.

After thinking it over for about two hours Monday, Joe Michael Kidwell
agreed to stop growing and distributing marijuana, said Deputy
District Attorney Decio Rangel on Tuesday.

Kidwell grew his drugs on a rooftop and openly sold the marijuana from
a Venice storefront under the name "Joe Hemp's First Bank Cannabis
Distribution Network," Rangel said.

Kidwell claimed his actions were legal under the Medicinal Marijuana
Act approved in 1996, which allows some people to use the drug if they
have a doctor's prescription.

But he failed to persuade a Los Angeles jury, which convicted him in
May.

Judge Albert Matthews suspended Kidwell's two-year prison sentence and
put him on probation for three years.