Kristoffer Lewandowski doesn't exactly fit the profile of a pot baron. A veteran of three tours of duty with the U.S. Marines, including stints in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Laguna Niguel, California resident divides his time between architecture classes at Saddleback College and helping his wife, Whitney, raise their three young sons. But thanks to a 2yearold episode of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that occurred in Oklahoma and led to a guilty plea for growing six marijuana plants, Lewandowski now faces an Oct. 19 sentencing hearing that could land him in state prison for five years.

In their own words, Lewandowski, along with his wife Whitney, describe the ordeal brought on by arcane laws that make no sense. If five years sounds like a heavy sentence for half a dozen scraggly plants, consider this: Thanks to the Sooner State's notoriously retrograde policy on cannabis—it's one of a dwindling number nationwide that offer no protections for medical use of marijuana—Lewandowski at one point was actually facing life in prison for the plants. (The local media even hyped his arrest as a "major pot bust.")