Pubdate: Mon, 18 Aug 2003
Source: Sacramento Bee (CA)
Copyright: 2003 The Sacramento Bee
Contact:  http://www.sacbee.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/376
Pubdate: 18 aug 2003
Author: Denny Walsh, Bee Staff Writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Cannabis - California)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

MAN JAILED FOR POT USE IS WILLING TO FIGHT AGAIN

B E Smith went to war for his country.

He went to prison for what he believes is the right of sick Californians to 
use marijuana.

Now, the 56-year-old Smith is an independent candidate for governor in the 
Oct. 7 special election, saying he wants to "fight for the common people." 
As much as anyone in the crowded field, Smith symbolizes the candidates not 
in it for a cheap thrill or their 15 minutes of fame; the ones committed to 
a set of beliefs they feel would serve the people well. The battle-tested 
Vietnam veteran is convinced the state needs him or someone like him -- 
someone he would call a "stand-up guy."

Smith promised to use the power of the governor's office to pardon "anyone 
convicted of a victimless crime," such as growing, selling or using 
marijuana for medicinal purposes -- actions for which he was convicted in 
federal court in 1999.

He vowed to seek rollbacks "of the outrageous energy contracts the last two 
governors have saddled us with." And he said he would spend at least two 
nights a month in the home of a family "with little or no political clout, 
or in a prison or jail cell" and hold town hall meetings to hear "the cries 
and pleas and problems" of people not represented by lobbyists in Sacramento.

"These are people that the governor needs to be in touch with, to listen 
to, to represent," Smith said. "When the governor extends a hand to 
someone, it should not be for money."

The tall, lean native of rural Alabama loves a good joke but fixes a 
listener with an unnerving, Clint Eastwood-like stare when his talk turns 
serious.

His friend, actor and political activist Woody Harrelson, refers to Smith 
as "my mentor" and "the last free man I know."

At 17, Smith dropped out of high school and joined the Army. He was 
deployed in 1967 as a combat infantryman in northern South Vietnam, where 
he served as a point man in a reconnaissance patrol unit and as an 
"identifier," scrutinizing new arrivals so their remains could be 
identified in case they were killed without identification.

He came home a troubled man and an alcoholic.

"I needed booze to sleep," Smith recalls. "I couldn't get the images of my 
generation's naked and dead out of my head."

He stayed drunk until 1972, when he tried marijuana.

"For the first time since Vietnam, I was able to sleep without nightmares," 
he said. "You don't dream when you go to bed stoned."

Marijuana has been a daily part of his life since. He insisted that it 
helps him cope with his diagnosed post-traumatic stress disorder.

Smith worked as a timber faller and contractor before retreating with Mary, 
his wife of 31 years, to the rugged isolation of Denny, a hamlet of 20 
people buried in the mountains of Trinity County. There he dabbles in 
logging and gold mining.

After the 1996 passage of Proposition 215 -- California's Compassionate Use 
Act -- Smith grew 87 pot plants "for myself and a few patients who had 
recommendations from licensed physicians." He was convicted in Sacramento 
federal court in 1999 of marijuana cultivation and possession and served 
two years in prison.

"It took a brave soldier to stand up on the front lines of this issue," 
defense lawyer Robert Booker aid.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom