A medical marijuana activist in Calgary was sentenced Tuesday to four months in jail for trafficking in marijuana, but the judge ruled that corrections officials must make sure he has access to the drug while behind bars.

Grant Krieger, who suffers from multiple sclerosis and has legal permission to smoke marijuana for medical purposes, had previously admitted to sending two packages of marijuana to Manitoba in 2003 and 2004.

Provincial court Judge William Pepler said Tuesday that incarceration is appropriate, but he is delaying Krieger's time behind bars until June to allow corrections officials to figure out how they will administer medical marijuana to him.

Pepler said although he recognizes that Krieger has a special constitutional right to receive marijuana to alleviate pain, the federal government has a program for people in Krieger's situation and Krieger must now comply with the law.

Outside court, Krieger said his condition had worsened when he was previously jailed for similar offences without access to marijuana.

"I had to sit in a wheelchair, couldn't walk."

Krieger said he will keep defying the law because not all the people who need marijuana for medical purposes are getting access to the federal program.

John Hooker, Krieger's lawyer, said most people would agree that ill people who need the drug should be able to get it.

"I think the law is in conflict with the general feeling of the population. This is a medicine that should be given to sick people."