Jason Merritt/Getty ImagesThis guy could use some publicity improvement.
Erstwhile Home Improvement kid Taran Noah Smith has been charged with driving under the influence and possessing concentrated cannabis stemming from his Feb. 1 arrest in a Los Angeles suburb, E! News has learned.
According to Denny Wei, assistant prosecutor at the Burbank City Attorney's Office, the actor, now 27, faces up to a year and a half in jail and a $1,500 fine if convicted of the two misdemeanors.
Smith got into this mess after cops in Burbank noticed his 1998 silver Honda parked in front of a fire hydrant. They approached and, per the police report, caught a whiff of marijuana emanating from the car.
A search of the vehicle turned up the drugs. Smith allegedy flubbed a sobriety test and was taken into custody on DUI charges.
He is due back in court on March 1.
The thesp, of course, entertained millions of viewers as Mark Taylor, the youngest child of Tim Allen's handyman character on ABC's hit sitcom. Since the end of Home Improvement, however, he's remained out of the spotlight, foregoing his acting career to found a vegan food company.
In 2001, at the age of 17, he married a woman 16 years his senior, but the couple divorced in 2007.