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Dakta Green - Source: Close Up
A marijuana activist has had his jail term nearly tripled by the Court of Appeal.
Dakta Green, 61, was sentenced to eight months jail in June for selling and possessing cannabis.
Green ran the Daktory, a building in Auckland where cannabis users could go to smoke in peace.
The Solicitor General applied to lengthen his sentence in the Court of Appeal at Auckland on Monday.
The court upheld the appeal, in a decision released on Friday.
It said it did notagree with the sentencing judge's comments that the Daktory was not like a tinnie house because money was not taken for commercial gain, but to maintain the premises and fund nationwide pro-cannabis tours.
"Mr Green was supplying cannabis, at a price which varied accordingly to perceptions of the quality of the cannabis. It was commercial offending in the same way as a tinnie house is commercial offending."
The court replaced Green's eight-month sentence with a 23-month jail term.
Green has been an active member of NORML - the National Organisation for the Reform of Marijuana Laws and the Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party.