Iglulik (Oct 02/06) - Nunavut's most outspoken marijuana advocate will serve time behind bars because of the very thing he promotes.

After pleading guilty to trafficking and laundering the proceeds of crime, Ed DeVries was sentenced to six months in jail and one year probation on Sept. 25 in Iglulik.

He imported more than 2,000 grams of marijuana to Nunavut. The pot was concealed inside a filing cabinet.

DeVries was charged with laundering $282,539.83 worth of items, drugs and money.

He countered in court that the total value was only $140,000.

The Crown agreed to DeVries' estimate.

He ran in the 2006 federal election as the Marijuana Party candidate, but was not allowed to fully participate in the CBC-hosted debate.

In that election, DeVries collected 7.88 per cent of the votes cast, a total of 724 votes. He ended up with more support than Feliks Kappi of the Green Party, who was allowed to participate in the radio debate.

DeVries has been offering his collection of Inuit art - which he acquired by trading marijuana for carvings - to any organization in Nunavut that would take it.

There are more than 600 works in the collection.