GP man gets 12 years for medical marijuana

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CANTON, Miss. (AP) — An 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 of Grants Pass 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, a Jamaican-born spoken word artist who performed as "BlackFire," had stated the marijuana was for his chronic knee pain, according to earlier news reports . 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.