The sentencing of cannabis campaigner Gershwyn (Shilo) Smith who fined $30,000 after being caught with more than $116,000 of cannabis at his home has sparked a legal controversy.

Earlier this week six-time electoral candidate Smith escaped a possible life sentence after pleading guilty to cultivating 545 cannabis plants and possessing 2,173 grammes of cannabis.

Yesterday defence lawyer Alan Dunch, who represented Allan Williams who was jailed for four years in 1995 for knowingly allowing cannabis to be grown on his premises, spoke out about the differences in the two sentences.

He said: "I found the sentence to be a startling one having regard to my former client Allan Williams.

"He was convicted only for allowing his premises to be used and he was sentenced on the express basis stated by the judge that she accepted that he had only turned a blind eye to the obvious but he ended up with a sentence of four years and served almost three of them. It makes you wonder."

But Mr. Dunch added: "It was within the judge's prerogative and I don't wish to second guess the judge."

Assistant Justice Archibald Warner said jail would have made a martyr of Smith, 52, but Government's alternatives to incarceration legislation meant that high fines rather than prison sentences were needed.

But Mr. Warner queried why the Crown had not sought to convict on possession with intent to supply charges - Police sources have told The Royal Gazette that the cannabis found at Smiths' home had a street value of more than $116,000.

Director of Public Prosecutions Khamisi Tokunbo refused to comment about why the possession with intent to supply charge had been withdrawn.

At the Williams trial Richard Thomas was jailed for four and half years after admitting cultivating 75 cannabis plants at Mr. Williams premises. An appeal to reduce Mr. Williams's sentence was rejected.

However Mr. Williams told The Royal Gazette he didn't think Smith should have been jailed.

He said: "It's to do with the new laws about keeping people out of the lock up. I would have swapped places with him.

"Considering what I paid in legal fees it would have been half of what I paid.

"I don't criticise this sentence, I agree with it. If I had been handled that way my life would have been quite different."

Mr. Williams case caused a stir because he was a member of the Chamber of Commerce, a member of the United Bermuda Party, a member of the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club and the Royal Hamilton Amateur Dinghy Club.

Now Mr. Williams, 50, helps out his friend, farmer Tom Wadson with irrigation.

He said: "I am doing just great. I bounced back. I am working and enjoying myself."