cannabisnews.com: Marijuana Activist Sounds Off at Cody’s Books
Marijuana Activist Sounds Off at Cody’s Books
Posted by CN Staff on June 03, 2003 at 08:01:53 PT
By Alicia Wittmeyer, Contributing Writer
Source: Daily Californian
Marijuana martyr and self-proclaimed "Guru of Ganja" Ed Rosenthal spoke to a packed crowd at Cody's Books on Telegraph Avenue Sunday, where he lamented the unfairness of his trial and exhorted audience members to work toward the legalization of marijuana. The crowd, clad in hemp and cannabis paraphernalia, greeted Rosenthal with hoots and whistles as he stepped up to the microphone.
Rosenthal, who has written more than one dozen books on marijuana and penned the "Ask Ed" column for High Times magazine, faces sentencing tomorrow on a conviction of marijuana cultivation related to his involvement in Oakland's medicinal marijuana program. A federal law barred Rosenthal from using medicinal marijuana as a defense. Rosenthal said the trial was unfair and called the judge "a prosecutor in robes." "He's taken the robes of honor and turned them into soiled rags," he said. "I was told what I was doing was legal, and then I was tried for it." Rosenthal then proceeded to reel off his reasons for legalizing pot in promotion of his new book, "Why Marijuana Should Be Legal." "It goes on the premise of 'No law should be more harmful than the behavior it's trying to regulate,'" Rosenthal said. Legalizing marijuana would increase government revenues from taxes, create new jobs and free up resources that should be used to combat violent crime, he said. Although most audience members laughed and were enthusiastic throughout Rosenthal's speech, some did not appreciate his irreverent tone. Rosenthal combined the campaign for the legalization of medicinal marijuana with the legalization of recreational marijuana—two issues that need to be kept separate, said Pleasant Hill resident Jeffrey Bockser. "You're making a mockery of the issue," Bockser said. "It's separate. You don't have credibility anymore." Rosenthal said the federal government had already mixed the two issues. Source: Daily Californian, The (CA Edu)Author: Alicia Wittmeyer, Contributing WriterPublished: Tuesday, June 3, 2003 Copyright: 2003 The Daily CalifornianContact: opinion dailycal.orgWebsite: http://www.dailycal.org/Related Articles & Web Site:Ed Rosenthal's Pictures & Articles http://freedomtoexhale.com/trialpics.htmCalifornian 'Guru of Ganja' Faces Jail http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16502.shtmlKing of Pot Sees Growing Kingdomhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16494.shtmlFederal Persecution - New York Timeshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16464.shtml
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Comment #11 posted by FoM on June 03, 2003 at 21:26:55 PT
ekim
I hope for the best tomorrow for Ed. I saw that article you posted today and couldn't believe that it happened but I know it did. What times we live in.
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Comment #10 posted by ekim on June 03, 2003 at 21:02:49 PT
to bad Aaron did not ask Graham about ED
one of the Dem hopefulls Mr.Graham of FL wants to be Pres. I do want to know what he would do in Eds case. He was in S.F. tonight at that. I would hope one news caster would ask Mr.Graham.http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/06/03/national/main556742.shtml....and then arrests the buyer. (AP) A car purchased at a U.S. marshal's auction
four years ago had a hidden surprise
for its new owner: 119 pounds of marijuana hidden
in the bumpers. The buyer, Jose Aguado Cervantes, didn't know about
the hidden stash until he was
stopped at the U.S.-Mexican border three months
later. Cervantes, 67, spent three
months in jail as a result. Cervantes is seeking damages for the government's
error, alleging negligence, false
imprisonment and false arrest. While an appeals
court in Pasadena said Monday that he
cannot recover damages for false arrest and
imprisonment, his negligence claim against
the federal government "is an entirely different
matter." The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said the
government's argument against
Cervantes' negligence claim is "patently without
merit" and "so off-the-mark as to be
embarrassing." "Cervantes remained similarly unaware of the
contraband until its discovery by U.S.
customs agents as he tried to cross the U.S. border
on Oct. 22, 1999," the appeals
court said. "Although Cervantes denied knowledge of
the
marijuana and informed agents that he had purchased
the vehicle at a U.S. marshal's
auction, he was arrested and incarcerated." Government officials eventually dropped the
charges, but not before Cervantes spent
time in jail awaiting trial.
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Comment #9 posted by FoM on June 03, 2003 at 20:27:27 PT
Thanks Again ekim
I just watched the part about Ed Rosenthal and it was good. CNN will be there tomorrow so I will keep CNN on all day! I am so nervous and I don't even know Ed or his family except thru the Internet but it still has me upset.
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #8 posted by FoM on June 03, 2003 at 19:09:56 PT
ekim
I have CNN on now and I wondered how he is going to portrait Ed. We'll find out soon. Good for you having the nerve to call in! Not me I'm too scared about doing things like that!
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Comment #7 posted by ekim on June 03, 2003 at 19:00:46 PT
Yes FoM Noam was great
I could not call in because I have not gone the 30 days needed to wait. I was unhappy thinking that there must have been countless hundreds of thousands of people watching C-Span and no one asked his impression of the drug war. I will call in again when my time is up. Heres to ED who rilled the Fed-- in doing so made there bed.
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Comment #6 posted by FoM on June 03, 2003 at 18:24:45 PT
Thanks ekim and JR
I'll turn on CNN at 10 and will listen to the interview a little later too. I don't know what will happen tomorrow but my heart goes out to Ed and his family. It must be so very hard for them the night before their lives could be turned upside down.PS: ekim, I got to see a good bit of Noam Chomsky and I was impressed with his common sense answers on many hot button issues.
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #5 posted by ekim on June 03, 2003 at 18:21:10 PT
Subject: SSDPTALK
From: Adam Jones Subject: SSDPTALK: What we feared about the RAVE act has happened
Date: Mon, 2 Jun 2003Well, you may or have not heard by now but the Rave
Act has hit very close to home. On the 30th of May the
Billings chapter of Montana NORML/SSDP had organized a
highly publicized and expensive benefit concert
featuring a number of local acts, the proceeds from
which would have gone to help the medical marijuana
campaign in Montana in 2004. Unfortunately, not only
did my probation officer arrest me the day before, but
the DEA came and shut things down the day of. The
reason being of course that due to the RAVE Act anyone
caught on the premises with marijuana would
automatically subject our generous venue to a fine of
$250,000. Not only did this cause us to lose money,
hope, and face, but it will seriously endanger the
chance of trying anything like this again in Billings.
What the hell happened to my first amendment?
Adam Jones
Billings NORML/SSDP
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #4 posted by ekim on June 03, 2003 at 18:12:59 PT
Cnn NewsNight with Aaron Brown: June 3
>for those who don't know, this program is on CNN.dir TV Ch 202
>>>
>>>NewsNight with Aaron Brown: Weeknights, 10 p.m. ET
>>>Tuesday, June 3, 2003
>>>
>>>Good Evening,
>>>
>>>(snip)
>>>
>>>A story about the clash between the feds and states' rights
>>>- the case in the California courts against Ed Rosenthal -
>>>who was growing marijuana for medical purposes. This was
>>>legal according to state law - and illegal according to
>>>federal law. A jury convicted Mr. Rosenthal - and now some
>>>jurors are outraged, saying that they never knew the
>>>reasons why Mr. Rosenthal was growing pot, and if they had,
>>>they would have decided differently. We'll talk to some of the jurors
>>>tonight.
>>>
>>>Hope you'll join us at 10 Eastern.
>>>
>>>Aaron
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #3 posted by JR Bob Dobbs on June 03, 2003 at 16:08:52 PT
Ed Rosenthal interview 6/1/03
There's a recent ten-minute interview with Ed Rosenthal available here:
http://www.cultural-baggage.com/Audio/ed060103.mp3
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #2 posted by afterburner on June 03, 2003 at 11:34:38 PT:
Performance Enhancing.
According to Marc Emery, cannabis is a performance enhancer. Use your own experience to verify, but make sure you're doing it right. Marc uses this pro-cannabis argument to refute the superstition that cannabis impairs driving, a major card in the prohibitionists' house of cards. "Set and setting," said Tim Leary: what you expect is what you get (set). Use a relaxed natural setting for best effect. Time for class: the debate is in full swing.It's funny (tragic, not ha-ha) how some in the medical cannabis camp discriminate against the spiritual and recreational arguments. I rarely, if ever, see the medical cannabis patients attacked by spiritual and recreational cannabis partakers. We give them compassion, support and respect due. I know people with challenges would like to do it all themselves so as to feel enabled, but "no [hu]man is an island. [S]he's a peninsula." -Jefferson Airplane. It's a two-way street: "united we stand, divided we fall." Medical cannabis is not a "con" that the cannabis community is trying to "sneak" into law. It is a long overdue recognition of the blessings of the cannabis plant and the need for re-legalization.ego transcendence follows ego destruction when the set and setting are planned for beneficial results.
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Comment #1 posted by JSM on June 03, 2003 at 09:15:14 PT
Bockser
How absurb to say Mr. Rosenthal has lost credibility because he advocates legalization. The assumption that statement is based on is that there is something inherently wrong or immoral about using Cannabis for any reason other than so-called medical. That premise is unacceptable. Dr. Grinspoon has correctly stated that we will never realize the full potential of this herb until we have full legalization. Medical use simply puts Cannabis into the mainstream and will lead to much greater acceptance and eventual legalization.
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