cannabisnews.com: 'Guru of Ganja' Sees Cracks Developing in Laws
'Guru of Ganja' Sees Cracks Developing in Laws
Posted by CN Staff on June 11, 2003 at 20:30:16 PT
By Josh Richman, Forward Correspondent
Source: Forward
Oakland The self-proclaimed "guru of ganja" Ed Rosenthal says his one-day, time-already-served sentence for three marijuana-cultivation felonies proves that federal laws against pot are going up in smoke. But a federal judge in San Francisco insisted that this get-out-of-jail-free card could be played only once.Rosenthal faced the possibility of a decades-long prison sentence and fines totaling millions of dollars.
In defense of the light sentence handed out June 4, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer described Rosenthal's belief that state and city laws shielded him from federal prosecution as reasonable but wrong. However, the judge added, this case has put Rosenthal, 58, of Oakland, and the rest of the nation "on notice" so nobody else can harbor such a belief in good faith.In other words: From now on, do the crime and you'll do the time case closed.Nonsense, countered a defiant Rosenthal, in an exclusive interview with the Forward a few days after his sentencing."Imagine a box in the bottom of the ocean, and the box is supposedly watertight. If there's even the smallest crack, water starts getting into that box," the Bronx-born Rosenthal said. "That's what the laws are like now; they're hollowed out and leaky... and I think [Breyer's] effort to stop progress is futile."California voters in 1996 approved a law allowing medical use of marijuana, but federal law still bans it entirely. Drug Enforcement Administration agents busted Rosenthal, a prolific pro-marijuana author and columnist, in February 2002 for growing marijuana plants in a West Oakland building and selling them to a San Francisco medical marijuana club.Breyer denied Rosenthal's request to inform the jury of his belief that he was shielded from the federal law by the state law and by an Oakland ordinance under which he was deemed an officer of the city allowed to grow marijuana. Before trial, Breyer ruled that the state and city had no authority to "deputize" Rosenthal in this way and that his status under their laws was irrelevant to his culpability under federal law. Jurors convicted Rosenthal January 31, but later rallied to his defense after learning of the state and city protections.Rosenthal is appealing the verdict in order to clear the felony convictions from his record and set a true precedent for the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes. He hopes the appellate court will order a new trial in which he'll be allowed to present his defense based on the state and city laws an order that would encourage other states and cities across the nation to pass similar laws. A pending bill in the U.S. House of Representatives the "Truth in Trials Act," now with 34 co-sponsors would accomplish much the same.The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals could overrule Breyer's lenient sentence and toss Rosenthal in a cell. But Rosenthal said that the verdict must be challenged or else "from now on medical marijuana users and their providers will be treated as common criminals." Rosenthal likened his case and his cause to the civil rights movement of the 1960s."Patients should be able to get their medicine that's not just a civil right, that's a human right," he said. "It's not often a government has denied sick people an effective medicine. You could almost consider it a form of genocide because if they don't get their medicine, a certain number of people will die. The government just sees that as a cost or maybe a benefit of its policy."Two counts against Rosenthal were punishable by five to 40 years in prison, the third by up to 20 years. The former charges carried a five-year mandatory minimum sentence, and prosecutors sought a six-year term. But Breyer found that Rosenthal's clean record provided a "safety valve" exception to the mandatory minimum. Also, the judge concluded, Rosenthal's assumption that he was protected by state and city laws although incorrect was a mitigating factor meriting an enormous downward departure from the sentence he otherwise would have faced. The day behind bars Rosenthal served when first arrested was punishment enough, Breyer ruled, along with a $1,000 fine and three years probation.Prosecutors declined comment, and the DEA vowed to keep enforcing federal law. Meanwhile, marijuana advocates were hailing the light sentence as a harbinger of reforms to come."This law is dead. Now the questions are, 'How long will it take it to die?' and 'How many people will suffer in the meantime?'" said Bruce Mirken, communications director for the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington. "This is too big and too important, and despite what the judge may have said, what he recognized was that it was not viable to send this man to prison. He [the judge] would've been lynched."Actually, Rosenthal put Breyer through a verbal lashing anyway. When Breyer first announced the sentence, Rosenthal was grinning elatedly at the news that he could go home with his wife and daughter. Minutes later, however, Rosenthal was outside the courthouse, red-faced and shouting about how Breyer should resign for having violated his rights during the trial. The Guru of Ganja suddenly sounded like the Moses of Marijuana, admonishing the federal pharaohs to let his people go so that he could lead them into the promised land of legalization."This is day one in the crusade to bring down the marijuana laws all the marijuana laws!" he yelled during a fiery speech to a throng of cheering supporters and a wall of national news media. The federal government doesn't distinguish between medical and recreational marijuana use, so neither will he, he said all marijuana convicts should be freed, and "all marijuana should be legal!"Rosenthal's pro-legalization beliefs have been clear since his first guide to growing the illegal plant was published almost 30 years ago, but his bluntness made some medical marijuana advocates cringe just a bit."He's not a diplomat," said Jane Marcus, a resident of Palo Alto who handed out "Ed Rosenthal Hero" buttons at a convention of Reform synagogue leaders in February.Marcus and others at Congregation Beth Am in Los Altos Hills, Calif., launched a "Medical Marijuana as Mitzvah" project in 1999 to convince faith communities that the legalization of medicinal marijuana was an important social-justice cause for all Jews to adopt. The project led delegates at that year's Women of Reform Judaism national meeting to approve a resolution urging sisterhoods nationwide to become informed about the issue. The resolution also urged sisterhoods to call for more research on medicinal marijuana use and to urge Congress to reclassify marijuana so it can be prescribed for critically ill patients. In recent months Marcus has been attempting to build support for Rosenthal throughout Northern California's Jewish community.Noting that both Breyer and Rosenthal are Jewish, Marcus told the Forward she saw in the lenient sentence an almost kabbalistic balance of justice and compassion. She said she was only slightly uncomfortable with Rosenthal's post-sentencing tirade in favor of total legalization."The only problem it causes for me is [that] the opponents can say, 'See, I told you the medical marijuana was just a smokescreen, a foot in the door for legalization,'" Marcus said. "Yes, he was strident and irascible, and yes, you want to wring his neck for what he said about Breyer.... But this is what the man believes, and I believe it too. I've been a little bit coy about it in the work I do; I want to be able to say the question about recreational use is irrelevant when you're talking about medical, because obviously the sick should be able to have it."Given the political realities, we've had to separate the medical and the nonmedical. Maybe this is a foot in the door, but you have to show compassion and give it to the sick people who need it."Rosenthal said he's now sifting through thousands of messages from well-wishers; writing; pursuing an unrelated lawsuit against the trustees of High Times magazine, to which he contributed for many years; and trying to relax, at least until his appeal is filed in a few weeks.He's enjoying his freedom but believes it was "a strategic move on Breyer's part.""If he had sentenced me to any time at all and remanded me, it would've pushed this case even further," Rosenthal said. "I've always said I'll never do any time. Even my attorneys were starting to despair they didn't think I was being realistic, especially after I was convicted."Complete Title: 'Guru of Ganja' Sees Cracks Developing in Federal Anti-Drug Laws Source: Forward (US)Author: Josh Richman, Forward CorrespondentPublished: June 13, 2003Copyright: 2003 ForwardContact: letters forward.comWebsite: http://www.forward.com/Related Articles & Web Site:Ed Rosenthal's Pictures & Articles http://freedomtoexhale.com/trialpics.htmReefer Madness: Our Current Prohibitionhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16587.shtmlTwist Ends Medical Marijuana Casehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16545.shtmlGuru's Tirade on Marijuana Earns Respect http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16540.shtml
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Comment #10 posted by rchandar on June 15, 2003 at 00:27:42 PT:
i'm not sure
i'm not sure i can believe ed--i'm not sure this "crack" in War on Drugs thinking is all that big. God knows, i wish it was, but i don't see it! it won't be until politicians on capitol hill decide to endorse the reduction or abandonment of penalties for marijuana, that we will really see any "cracks" that matter enough.not to say that i like politicians. when it comes to marijuana, the whole lot of them are gutless bastards.my prediction: drug war continues in US for about 20-25 years solid. then if--AND ONLY IF--our side fights hard, will real cracks appear. --raj chandarlapaty, ABD
miami fl usa
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Comment #9 posted by The GCW on June 12, 2003 at 17:16:07 PT
goneposthole -Thanks for the Kucinich
It prompted Me to write to My congressman and request He sign on... if He hasn't.Thank You for bringing this to Our attention.
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Comment #8 posted by Lehder on June 12, 2003 at 10:25:27 PT
"marijuana"
>>The federal government doesn't distinguish between medical and
recreational marijuana use, so neither will he, he said all marijuana convicts should be
freed, and "all marijuana should be legal!"I make no such distinction either. I regard "recreational marijuana" a prejudicial term that attempts by implicit association with alcohol and intoxication to belittle the intent of the smoker and to generally defame the use of any marijuana. Marijuana never made anyone drunk, sloppy or obnoxious. The truth is that while marijuana has effective application for treatment of specific illness, it is also a valuable aliment profitably consumed by the fit and healthy. Daily or regular marijuana smoking provides many obviating and generally salubrious benefits already medically established. Yet the benefits of marijuana are not limited to fortifying the physical health of the smoker, but include the psychological, intellectual and, for many, the spiritual strengthening induced by the high itself. Those who would limit access of marijuana to the profoundly ill, or who argue that one should purchase an expensive drug from a doctor to treat a condition that could also be treated with marijuana, fear and deny the positive satisfactions for which the majority of people smoke marijuana.Marijuana is not alcohol. It's not a drug. It's a green herb with delicate, pretty flowers that are smoked or cooked for the healthful benefits of getting high. If you are a drug warrior, or just uncertain of what marijuana actually does, then try it. You'll like it and you'll see no harm in it. But if you don't like it, then, hopefully, your single experience will at least have caused you to shut up about it and leave others, who are no threat to you or your dumbed-down family, Alone. Don't worry: we think you're a little backward, but we're not wanting to watch you piss, steal your home, fire your ass, or imprison you.If you try it and you do like it, then know this: that there are two kinds of "marijuana", and their correct names are "cannabis sativa" and "cannabis indica". Both are good for you.http://www.marijuana-uses.com/examples/
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Comment #7 posted by goneposthole on June 12, 2003 at 08:42:29 PT
snipe hunt for Saddam Hussein
Lucky for Saddam, he's not Ed Rosenthal. Had Saddam had a truckload of cannabis, he would be in custody. He's a lucky guy.FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JUNE 11, 2003
11:17 AM
CONTACT: U.S. Representative Kucinich
Doug Gordon (202) 225-5871
Kucinich: Mr. President, Where Was The Imminent Threat?
WASHINGTON - June 11 - Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich (D-OH), the leader of the opposition to the war in Iraq in the House, again took to the House floor today to continue his pressure to demand the truth about the Administration's lead-up to the war in Iraq.Kucinich stated today on the House floor:"Over the past year, the Bush Administration has made specific and unequivocal statements about the imminent threat posed by Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction."Repeatedly claiming they has intelligence showing Iraq had 25,000 liters of anthrax, 38,000 liters of botulinum toxin, 500 tons of sarin, mustard and VX nerve agent, and over 30,000 munitions capable of delivering chemical agents."So where are those vast stockpiles? Where was the imminent threat?"At the State of the Union Address, the President said '
Hussein had the materials to produce as much as 500 tons of sarin, mustard and VX nerve agent.'"Where are those vast stockpiles? Where was the imminent threat?"This Administration repeatedly claimed Iraq's WMD represented an imminent threat to this country. They claimed specific evidence of vast stockpiles."Where are the vast stockpiles? Where was the imminent threat?"Did this Administration deliberately mislead this nation into war telling us that there was imminent threat, when there was not?"The resolution of inquiry now signed by 36 Members of Congress aims to find out the truth."Last Thursday, Kucinich introduced a Resolution of Inquiry in the House of Representatives to force the Administration to turn over the intelligence to back its yet unproven claims that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.The resolution, now signed by 36 Members of Congress, seeks to force the Administration to turn over the intelligence to substantiate claims by the President, Vice President, Secretary of Defense, and the White House Press Secretary that Iraq has chemical and biological weapons and therefore posed a threat to the United States. The resolution is a privileged resolution and must be voted on in Committee within 14 legislative days of being introduced.http://commondreams.org/news2003/0611-10.htm
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Comment #6 posted by goneposthole on June 12, 2003 at 08:03:25 PT
'cause'
typo on the word 'cause'a thousand pardons
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Comment #5 posted by goneposthole on June 12, 2003 at 08:01:10 PT
he's not a diplomat
Ed's free now. Time to shut him up.I'll listen to Ed Rosenthal on this one, not Jane Marcus."And I honor the man who is willing to sink half his present repute for the freedom to think, and, when he has thought, be his csuse strong or weak, will risk t'other half for the freedom to speak."-James Russell Lowellthink for yourself, Mr. Rosenthal
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Comment #4 posted by The GCW on June 12, 2003 at 05:20:48 PT
donkeys, elephants and butchers
Why, heck, isn't it time for the churches to finally come out and say, Uh, folks in the pews, let Us not cage Our brother for using any plants.How can the Bible help obedient Christians help end the wicked cannabis prohibition, which is attack upon Christ God My Father?6:12:3Father, lend Me Your ear and I’ll lend You mine.Now I grant You eat of the tree of life.Revelation 2:7, gives Me today’s bread. I give it to You.Rev. 2:7, “He who has an ear, let Him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To Him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God”.
That passage, that message in that verse is like others in that there is a lot. This indicating that along with what I know, that the churches are bad news, failing, the Spirit speaks against those churches. If You receive the Holy Spirit of Truth, it is perhaps not something to get from any church. With the communication system Christ sent... that is the HOST, You will know what He thinks. This verse is telling Us that if We receive the communication system from and through the HOST,,, to FURTHER, hear what that HOST says about the churches.I testify, I live with the HOST. I testify it is My work to help You know it also. While I live with the HOST, I further testify, the root of the problems on earth are in part due to failed clergy and what goes on in their house.
So I have the “ear”, I have heard what the Spirit says to the churches (for years now), I have overcome. I have overcome the spell the churches induce. To Me who overcomes, the spell of the churches, I grant Me access to the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God.
Paradise of God??? We are also referred to the Temple of God!There are 2 churches. There is mans church and there is Christ God’s church. OH BOY. There is the church that Christ sent for those who obey, that seems scarce. And there is the competition: the church that Man built. Man can not replace with His church, the Church that Christ sends.As people get to understand and know the Holy Spirit of Truth, they will rush out of the churches. Christ had a lot of problems with churches, which contain a nurtured bad seed. Well that nurtured bad seed is still producing bad fruit. Isn’t it?If the churches were sending people to know the HOST, already, then My words would be the norm and not the unique message that’s already been told.Indeed this is bread, of a whole loaf. It will be family style... give Me a dozen scrambled and a loaf of toast. Have You been nurtured as a good seed, and have You been kinda knowing it??? wait till You join the greatest link that man can make and combine it with spiritual level realities and qualities, that will be there waiting for You, and available now while You are alive. It is there for those who overcome, NOW.Jesus made it sound like all it takes to overcome is to love Your brother.A fellow carpenter, told Me yesterday, it is really hard to love Your brother. So don’t do it alone, do it with Him who gave Us the brother and will give Us the Love. Mix & serve.Now,notice Rev. 2:11, “He who has an ear, let Him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death”.notice Rev. 2:17, He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, to him I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it.' (Sometimes I feel like the white stone using the hidden manna)notice Rev. 2:26+, He who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end, TO HIM I WILL GIVE AUTHORITY OVER THE NATIONS;
27 AND HE SHALL RULE THEM WITH A ROD OF IRON, AS THE VESSELS OF THE POTTER ARE BROKEN TO PIECES, as I also have received authority from My Father; and I will give him the morning star. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.' http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?passage=REV%2B2&showfn=on&showxref=on&language=english&version=NASB&x=13&y=10 This continues in Rev. 3 http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?passage=REV+3&language=english&version=NASB&showfn=on&showxref=on And time? How long do You think it takes for God to snap His finger and make Urantia shake?The peace I give to YOU is not the peace of donkeys, elephants and butchers. I give You the peace that the spirit of truth gives to Us. And that peace is so great, it will give You comfort from the toil that the donkey, elephant and butcher induces.And You don’t have to wait to die for this peace, it is for now, if You haven’t grasped it yesterday.That picture of Ed's last supper, from the paper, may have more to it, since We are all the temple of God...If YOu get high, get high with the Most High (& thank HIm for it... and what does the spirit say to the churches about using cannabis???)The GCW
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Comment #3 posted by SWAMPIE on June 11, 2003 at 21:19:14 PT
Ed........ A Toast.........
To him: I bought his book.... I took a look.... He gave me strength...And My hats off to you....What an article!!! Now,if anyone in the mainstream gets to read this,the message will get across to some.Spres=ad the word!!!!!!! SWAMPIE SWAMPIE
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Comment #2 posted by afterburner on June 11, 2003 at 21:07:14 PT:
Jury Nullification Redux
All juries in all states, especially in Federal trials, should assert their right of jury nullification. If the facts about medical cannabis are suppressed as they were in Ed Rosenthal's trial and several others in California alone, then the jury should vote to nullify. No truth -- no conviction. It's that simple. We're not playing these vindictive, ignorant games anymore. The gauntlet has been thrown down. People are suffering and dying. Even medical cannabis patients in states without medical cannabis laws deserve protection, and so do their providers, care-givers, and gardeners. The time to stop the madness is now. Nullify. Nullify. Nullify.ego transcendence follows ego destruction, it's just around the corner over the next hill.
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Comment #1 posted by FoM on June 11, 2003 at 20:50:51 PT
He is The Guru of Ganja
Go Ed!!!
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