S. Oregon man with medical marijuana gets 12 years in prison

CANTON, Miss. (AP) – A Southern Oregon man has been sentenced to 12 years in prison in Mississippi for possessing medical marijuana.

The Clarion Ledger reports 46-year-old Patrick Beadle was originally convicted of drug trafficking and sentenced to eight years in prison without parole. Beadle’s attorney, Cynthia Stewart, said Tuesday that a judge vacated the trafficking conviction and has let Beadle instead plead guilty to drug possession. The new 12-year sentence comes with the possibility of parole after three years.

Beadle says the marijuana was for his chronic knee pain. Prosecutors have said the only evidence that could point to drug trafficking was the amount of marijuana, which totaled nearly three pounds.

The drugs were discovered when a Mississippi deputy pulled Beadle over in 2017 for drifting over a highway line, which Beadle disputes.

Beadle is a Jamaican-born Rastafarian musician and spoken-word artists who performs under the name of BlackFire. His social media presences lists a Grants Pass home base, the Washington Post reported last fall.
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Information from: The Clarion Ledger, http://www.clarionledger.com