RELUCTANT DRUG POSTER BOY

Teen faces 26 years for selling grass

Webster Alexander is 19 years old and his life's dream is lost. His love of
marijuana may cost him decades in prison.

Moulton, Ala., is a small town that doesn't attract much interest. But that
changed when Lawrence County Circuit Judge Philip Reich sentenced Alexander
to 26 years, after convicting him of selling 28-gram handfuls of marijuana
to an undercover cop.

It was his first offence and he pleaded guilty. The plea bargain can't be
appealed. He now lives at home, waiting for a judge to decide the nature of
his sentence. He could receive probation instead of jail for some, or all,
of the 26 years.

When pro-marijuana activists caught wind of the sentence, Alexander's face
was plastered on posters, first in Canada, and then around the world. A
similar conviction in Canada would likely lead to a conditional sentence or
fine. Even people convicted for multimillion-dollar operations rarely see
jail time here.

Raised in a trailer, Alexander had a C-grade average and football was his
future. He was counting on a scholarship to pay for a college education that
would lead to a job as a phys-ed teacher.

His conviction means he can never be a teacher, and he has lost the right to
vote.

Alexander smoked his first joint when he was just nine.

Last February, a new student enrolled at Lawrence County High. Alexander had
no idea he was befriending a 26-year-old narc from the county Drug Task
Force.

On April 9, as the agent set up his fourth buy, police swarmed the
Alexanders' trailer. They arrested Alexander at gunpoint. "The cell door
slammed," Alexander said. "I was scared to death that I was never going to
get out."

His uncle put together $90,000 bail. The news was initially welcomed by his
family. They wanted him off drugs. But when Webster's mom, Wanda, was told
how many years the prosecution was seeking, everything changed.

"If they had busted him and not tried to hang him, I would have shook their
hands but they're trying to hang my son," Wanda said.

John Mayes is Alexander's lawyer. In his office in Moulton, he has a
life-size painting of southern Civil War Gen. Robert E. Lee. He calls people
from the north "Yankees." Even to a staunch southern conservative, the
marijuana laws seem oddly harsh in Alabama.

"Alabama does not rehabilitate criminals," Mayes said. "We just punish
them."

When he worked out Alexander's plea bargain, his office was bombarded by
marijuana lobby groups. NORML (National Organization for the Reform of
Marijuana Laws) was first to call. Wanda said they promised to pay for her
son's defence.

"We're just a small town country family; we didn't know what to do," Wanda
said. "The marijuana groups ... said they would help and they wanted us to
fire John."

And they wanted Alexander to be a spokesman for the legalization cause.

"There is no question ... if the marijuana groups were involved, Webster
would ... be going to jail for every one of those 26 years," Mayes said.
"There were people who were going to say, 'Judge ... if you weren't so
stupid, judge, you would realize these drugs should be legal.' "

The Alexanders never saw a nickel from any lobby group. They never fired
Mayes, who is leading an appeal. Mayes hopes Alexander can avoid some of the
prison time.

Alexander now undergoes regular drug tests and has been clean for a year. He
got a high school diploma from a private school. He volunteers with kids,
warning them to try and live a good, clean life. "I just hope I can go to
college and live a good life," he said.

Mayes is with him. "The penitentiary is no place for a young person," Mayes
said. "It's like throwing someone in a garbage can."