Baby on bong: Court upholds mom's conviction

[Each Hit]

taken from cnn.com

Baby on bong: Court upholds mom's conviction

SAN FRANCISCO, California (Reuters) -- A Montana mother who allowed her 18-month-old baby daughter to inhale from a marijuana water pipe was properly convicted, but should not have to spend five years in jail, a U.S. appeals court ruled Friday.

Jessica Durham was photographed allowing her toddler Michala to suck from a marijuana water pipe, also known as a bong, in 2004 by a friend upset about the activity.

"Ms. Durham allegedly remarked that smoking improved Michala's appetite and left Michala lethargic and mellow - a manner she found consistent with her own experience smoking marijuana," Judge Louis Pollak of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals wrote in summarizing the case.

In 2005, a lower court sentenced Durham to five years in prison for unlawful marijuana distribution. She appealed both the conviction and the sentence.

In its ruling Friday, a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit upheld the conviction but said the sentence exceeded the applicable federal law which calls for punishment of no more than two years in prison.

Copyright 2006 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.