[url]http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/nm/20030604/od_uk_nm/oukoe_marijuana&e=1[/url]

"Ganja guru" gets day in jail
1 hour, 11 minutes ago  


SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Amid cheers from supporters, marijuana advocate Ed Rosenthal has been sentenced to a single day in jail for growing the drug in violation of federal law even though California allows its cultivation for medical use.

 

U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer said he handed down the light sentence because of the "extraordinary circumstances" of the case -- referring to the fact that growing marijuana for medical purposes was legal under a voter-approved California law.


But during the trial, the judge had not allowed Rosenthal, a 58-year-old self described "ganja guru," to present evidence that he had grown the marijuana as an officer of the city of Oakland, which had a medical marijuana program.


As a result, a jury found Rosenthal guilty of violating federal law with several jurors trying afterward to recant the verdict when they found out the circumstances of the case,


Breyer sentenced Rosenthal to a single day in prison but gave him credit for time served so he walked out of court a free man. He also fined Rosenthal $1,300 (815 pounds).
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Great news for medical marijuana crowd. Also shows what a waste of money the war on marijuana is. The government spends millions of dollars setting up the busts, JBT pay, court costs, etc... and lands a one-day jail term in return, hardly worth the effort don't ya think??? But what do I know, the idiots in Washington will waste around 12 Billion dollars over the next 4 years on the war on drugs (mostly a war on marijuana these days) for similar results, I feel safer already. Free the marijuana.

Actually, I think it is closer to 80 billion that they will waste on the war on drugs over the next four years.

This case is pretty interesting because Rosenthal cultivated well over 100 plants and was distributing them to others. From a Federal legal standpoint, there was no real question that he was in violation of the law, and on a large scale. Then they went to all that work and expense to make an example of him, only to see him walk out of court a free man. Among other things, that has to be a pretty clear message about the future of such prosecutions.

There was some thought that he might be sentenced to community service. That would have been funny because Ed would have gone right back to serving the community in the way he did before -- working with local governments to ensure safe access to medical marijuana.

I would have loved to see the look on John Walters' face when he heard about this sentence.

Crucify the Messeger.

People that are successful, will Not let other people Know that they are Closet Pot Smoker.
Why Should they.

Truth will Liberate Earth.

Thanks, Hellraiser, for Posting, I would suggest that you change the Topic Title to include the words  "Ganja guru".

I don't think most here Know who Ed Rosenthal is.

The WAR continues against People for Peaceful Simple Possession.

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FIXED BAYONETS -- FORWARD

VX

Only in Kaliforniastan

I have a dream...in which the first person convicted solely for a violation of the PRK's ridiculous AW law is treated in the same fashion.

Naturally I expect monkeys to fly out of my arse before this dream comes true.

cynic

I believe the only reason we have a war on drugs is because our goberment doesn't want the competition.

"Crimes of Patriots" is a great book, it gives insight into how the CIA smuggles drugs into the country, launders the drug money, and then uses the laundered money to finance it's secret operations.

The book claimed the guts of dead Vietnam GIs were removed to make room for the CIA's heroine packages. The dead GIs were given a mark and then sent back to the states, once here, the body would be identified by agents, the heroine removed, and then sold on the streets of America.

 

[imbroglio]One day? For a hundred plants? Whatever happened to the federal mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines that were supposed to end this type of abuse of power?[/imbroglio]

the law for having drugs should be like in Malaysia and Singapore.

Don't spend 80 million on it when you can just execute them. I think it is a great idea.

And kids with tobacco get beatings by cops.

You think Malaysia or Singapore has it right, maybe we should adopt their gun laws as well, but you would not like that would ya? For those of you ignorant of Singapore's gun laws, it comes down to basically you can't have any. Less than 0.01% of households are allowed to own a firearm.

Good! [b]Both[/b] of my parents died of cancer and medical pot could have helped them.

I hate the gov't being a nanny. Pot is less physically damaging and offers less mental impairment than alcohol, yet it is a serious crime to have any.

Think of the tax revenue that could be had in any state that legalized it! Bye-bye budget problems...

Statements like this are a certain sign that the person knows nothing at all about the subject.

The common thread between those who want to ban guns and those who want to ban drugs is abject ignorance -- neither one of those groups knows anything about the subject. This drug policy was built on ignorance and bigotry and requires ignorance to survive.