Longtime marijuana activist Dana Beal received a five-year sentence in Dodgeville, Wisconsin on Sept. 20. He was charged with possessing 180 pounds of marijuana after a traffic stop there on Jan. 6. The Chevy van Beal rode in was stopped for a broken tail light and missing bumper.

As if the news wasn't bad enough, Beal suffered a heart attack on the morning of Sept. 27. He's currently at St. Mary's Hospital in Madison. "Dana says he was clinically dead for a short period and in induced hypothermia afterwards from which he awoke earlier this week," Beal associate Doug Greene tells CelebStoner. "Double bypass surgery is scheduled for the Oct. 12." Greene adds that "he sounds a little short of breath and raspy, but lucid."

Beal's sentence is split in half - 2.5 years in lock-up and 2.5 years in "extended supervision" (porbation). He'll be credited for 257 days served.

Greene was among a large contingent of supporters who spoke in behalf of Beal at the sentencing hearing. "It could've been a lot worse," he says. "I think we made a difference." The prosecutor asked for an eight-year sentence but the judge showed sympathy for the aging activist. "A appeal for clemency based on his poor health is being discussed," Greene adds.

Beal, who runs Cures Not Wars in New York and organizes the annual Global Marijuana March, is also facing a similar possession charge in Nebraska from 2009.

Send cards and letters to:
St. Mary's Hospital
700 South Park St.
Madison, WI 53715-0450
Attn: Irvin Dana Beal, Room 5912

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