Leary Gets 30 Years On Marijuana Charge

Timothy F. Leary, former a lecturer in Clinical Psychology, was convicted of transporting and failing to pay a tax on less than half an ounce of marijuana by a Federal Court jury in Laredo, Texas, yesterday.

U.S. District Judge Ben Connally sentenced Leary to 30 years in prison and a fine of $30,000. It is expected that Leary will appeal the sentence.

Leary's a 18 year-old daughter, Susan, was given an indeterminate sentence in a federal correctional institution for failing to pay the tax on marijuana.

Originally, Leary was arrested on three counts; the charge of smuggling marijuana was dropped when it was found that Leary had purchased the drug in New York. The Texas jury trial required only 45 minutes to reach a verdict on Leary. His daughter had not requested the privilege of a jury trial.

The marijuana had been confiscated on Dec. 22, 1965 when Leary and his family were returning from a vacation in Mexico. It was first reported that three ounces had been seized from Leary and his daughter, but in the trial which followed, Leary centered his defense around discrepancies in the amount of marijuana discovered. While the prosecution contended in the indictment that three ounces had been found, a government witness said that Miss Leary carried only 11 grams and the total amount found in the car was less than one-half ounce.

The final testimony for the defense came from Dr. Joseph Pert, director of the special problems unit of the El Cerrite Health Department. Pert explained that while marijuana was habit-forming, it was not harmful.

'Solely Responsible'

To defend his daughter, Leary testified that the marijuana "was mine and I am solely responsible for it."

He also explained that he is a member of the New York and Boston Hindu sect which uses marijuana in religious rites.

He concluded by saying that he and other members of the Castillian Foundation at Milbrook, N.Y. smoke marijuana as a method of scientific research in a study of its effects.

Miss Helen Loftis, a U.S. employee, testified that she found three ounces of marijuana in a silver snuff box concealed between Miss Leary's legs, the Associated Press reports.

Leary was relieved of his teaching duties at Harvard on May 28, 1963 for absenting himself from classes without notifying the University. He had been working with Richard Alpert, former assistant professor of Clinical Psychology, who was fired at the same time for giving drugs to an undergraduate--contrary to an agreement made with the University.

Robert F. Bales, then director of the Psychological Laboratory said that Alpert and Leary had been using drugs in a promotional and not a scientific manner.

In October of 1962, Leary founded the cinogenic and consciousness-expanding International Foundation for Internal Freedom which experimented with hallu-cinogenic and consciousness-expanding drugs.