Smith resigns from pot firm's board

Company promoter Ross Smith has resigned from the medicinal marijuana company he helped set up after becoming embroiled in a bitter online spat.

The company announced this morning that Mr Smith had resigned as a director of PhytoTech Medical immediately.

Chairman Peter Wall said Mr Smith had been instrumental in bringing together an outstanding team to manage the business going forward.

"The company would not be where it is today without Ross' hard work and perseverance," he said,

Mr Smith said he had achieved what the majority of people said couldn't be done in listing Australia's first medical cannabis company.

"I am stepping down from the board confident that the world class team we brought together and the company will go on to become a huge success.

"I will continue to stay living in Israel while looking for the next big thing in biotechnology and technology."

Mr Smith's resignation follows a veiled threat he issued to one of his critics on the HotCopper website.

On his personal Facebook account, he wrote: "The great thing about living in Israel is I have special forces bodyguards that love me."

The post claimed to have tracked down an online critic to a Perth address: "We will be paying you a visit and my friends are very, very good at what they do."

After the comments were reproduced by HotCopper users, Mr Smith claimed internet trolls had hacked his Facebook account and posted the offending remarks.

"My FB account got hacked by what is looking like a very good personal smear campaign," he said.

HotCopper moderators removed several discussion threads about PhytoTech.

Some posts concerned PhytoTech's allocation of performance rights to Mr Smith. He and PhytoTech managing director Boaz Wachtel would have qualified for one million shares each after the newly listed company cleared an average share price hurdle.

Mr Smith said anonymous posters had personally attacked him and spread "outrageous" misinformation about the company

The $21 million company has a research and licensing deal with an Israeli technology developer to grow and commercialise medical-grade cannabis for global markets.

Mr Smith is no stranger to controversy. In 2007, he drove a tractor through the front door of the Colonial Brewing pub in Margaret River he co-founded in a dispute with its new owners.

PhytoTech shares were off 1.5 cents, or 3.16 per cent, to 46 cents at 9.35am.