Smokey, The Bandit

April, 1980

Earl Henry "Smokey" Burris, 66, took his stand in the grand manner of frontier individualism and dared the state of Arizona to stop him from growing and smoking his own marijuana. Arizona accepted the dare and locked him up in prison for three to five years. The case is an embarrassment for both Arizona lawmakers and Arizona law enforcers. In the name of protecting citizens from themselves and from drugs and teaching them respect for the law, they may have passed a death sentence on a...