SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - A 23-year-old Alberta man who was arrested on Highway 3 en route to Yellowknife from Alberta with close to a half kilogram of marijuana has been sentenced to six months in jail.

Aaron Bohnert, a resident of Lethbridge, Alta., was convicted of possession for the purpose of trafficking after police stopped his green Volkswagon Jetta heading to Yellowknife on July 8, 2009.

Bohnert and Bryce Schultz, who pleaded guilty in February to trafficking and received a $2,000 fine for his part in the offence, were stopped by RCMP after police learned a car matching the description was heading to Yellowknife to deliver a package of drugs.

Police found 454 grams of marijuana in the trunk of the car and the two men were arrested.

Defence lawyer Serge Petitpas asked Judge Bernadette Schmaltz to give his client a similar sentence to Schultz, who avoided jail time. Petitpas argued that the two men had similar involvement in the crime.

He also asked the judge to take into consideration Bohnert's difficult personal circumstances in 2009. With mounting student debt and credit problems, and with his two grandparents and father suffering from health issues, Petitpas said his client was "more deserving of restraint" for his "tragic circumstances."

Addressing the court, Bohnert said he didn't understand why his involvement in the crime would be treated differently than Schultz's. Schmaltz said despite all the personal challenges Bohnert faced, jail time was necessary to deter him and others from thinking they can get away with trafficking drugs for a quick buck.

She said he was more deserving of jail time because transporting the drugs was his idea.

"It's an incredibly profitable business," said Schmaltz, adding trafficking marijuana "is not a victimless crime," she said. "The last thing we need in the North are further problems related to substance abuse."

Bohnert will also be required to give a DNA sample to police and will be prohibited from owning or using firearms for 10 years.