2013

Green Aid worked to support the legal defense of Jose Gutierrez, who was beaten by federal officers during the 2012 raid on Oaksterdam University with the pro-bono legal team J. Tony Serra, Edie Lerman and Omar Figueroa. 

Activist Targeted and Beaten by DEA Agents Faces Charges of Assault on Federal Officers

USA v. Gutierrez: Oaksterdam University Protestor Beaten by Federal Officers Found Guilty of Assault

Photo: 2012 San Francisco Chronicle

2012

Green Aid took the case of Daisy Bram, a woman who had her infant children removed by CPS for legal medical marijuana cultivation and refocused its efforts to victimized families…

Green Aid covered the case of Daisy Bram, which sparked a media frenzy rallying support around Bram and her family. An attorney was secured pro-bono to fight her case.

Green Aid began assembling a task force, including California NORML, the NORML Women’s Alliance and Pier 5 Law to focus its efforts solely on families being torn apart by the War on Drugs, particularly in rural parts of Northern California where child removal rates are up to 200 times higher than the national average and income is well below the federal poverty level.

2011

Green Aid continued to support Eddy Lepp by fundraising, publicizing his plight in prison via articles in SKUNK Magazine and sending Media Coordinator, Angela Bacca, to visit him in prison.

2010

Green Aid made it easier for patients in California to fly with their medicine…

In October 2009, Ed Rosenthal was traveling through  Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, CA when he witnessed the arrest of Robert Wooster, a patient in a wheelchair who had been traveling with medicine. Arresting officers forced Wooster out of the chair and made him walk, although he was in severe pain. Through Ed’s Blog, Rosenthal reached out to Wooster. They got in contact with each other and Green Aid secured Allison Margolin to take his case. All charges were dropped.

Additionally, Ed has judicially challenged several airports when his medicine has been confiscated, as a result, patients can now fly safe through many California airports.

Green Aid brought national attention to an overzealous SWAT team in Columbia, MO and has formed long-time bonds for more aggressive reform for patients in Missouri…

In May 2010, in response to the SWAT raid that went viral on Youtube.com, Executive Director, Ed Rosenthal and Media Coordinator Angela Bacca as well as 94 others filed official complaints with the Columbia, Missouri Police Department. A police investigation determined the officers should be exonerated. Ed and Angela were the first to file an official appeal and grabbed headlines in mid-Missouri regarding the appeal.

On August 4th, 2010, the Civilian Police Review Board heard their appeal and rejected it in a 4:3 vote. The deciding vote by boardmember Steve Weinberg was made with a “troubled mind”. In accordance to City Policy, Angela and Ed filed a formal appeal with City Manager Bill Watkins on August 28, 2010. In September, Watkins rejected the appeal.

Shortly after the appeal was rejected, the Whitworth family, the raid’s victims, filed a lawsuit against the City of Columbia as well as all the individual officers involved in the violent and traumatizing raid.

Green Aid worked with and formed continuing alliances with citizen groups in Columbia and throughout Missouri, including, CoMo Citizens, Mizzou NORML, Americans for Forfeiture Reform and Keep Columbia Free.

Green Aid worked closely with Show-Me Cannabis, a group that nearly made the Missouri ballot for a full legalization and hemp farming bill. Public opinion towards medical and recreational use of marijuana has steadily increase with the legislation and Green Aid’s involvement.

Green Aid supported Eddy Lepp in Federal Prison while he geared up for appeal…

Green Aid raised funds and memebers personally donated to Eddy Lepp’s health and well-being in Lompoc Federal Penitentiary in Lompoc, California. About $500 were paid to his prison commissary, and Media Coordinator, Angela Bacca, visited Eddy in prison and publicized through an article appearing in several international cannabis related magazines. Green Aid continues to work with the Lepp Family to publicize a pending appeal and hopes to see Eddy on the outside soon.

2009

Green Aid helped get the charges dropped against U.S. Navy Veteran Eugene Davidovich…

Eugene Davidovich is a US Navy Veteran who was arrested in the Operation Green Rx raids in San Diego, California. District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis sought to arrest and incarcerate Davidovich for legally distributing medicine to patients. Green Aid worked to promote the raise defense funds. Davidovich was acquitted, and now heads San Diego Americans for Safe Access.

2008

The DeMoura Family Fund

On July 31, 2007 the DeMoura’s home and the collective was raided in the early hours of the morning by local police, Sheriffs, SWAT and a local DEA task force. The DeMoura’s 2-year-old son, Tiger, was snatched from his bed iby armed SWAT team officers, carried down the stairs kicking and screaming with guns pointed at him. He was then sat next to his handcuffed mother who was unable to comfort him except for drawing her own body around him while they despoiled their home. Tiger is still traumatized and has not been home to stay with his parents. Addison and 4 volunteers of the collective were arrested, but returned home the same night, out on bail. The first court date was on August 22, 2007, following a medical cannabis rally the collective organized. The very next day, Addison and his wife Jessica were both arrested at their home for a medical garden at a separate location which was used to provide patients with safe medicine. After staying the night in jail, they were both released on bail.

Marijuana charges were dropped against DeMoura

2002

Green Aid is founded to support the legal defense of Ed Rosenthal

Ed Rosenthal, wife Jane Klein and daughter Justine on the day of Ed’s sentencing.

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In 2002, the DEA carried out several pre-dawn raids on San Francisco dispensaries and Ed’s Oakland home office, where he was arrested and put on trial as the “kingpin” of a major illegal drug operation. The judge barred Ed’s defense from testifying that he had been deputized by the city or that the operation was in compliance with local ordinances and state law. 

Using the Yippie tactic of drawing attention to injustice through spectacle, Ed attended his federal trial in a “Wizard of Weed” costume. The international media attention this garnered helped swell the crowds of protestors outside the federal courthouse. 

“They had to lie in order to win, so who was actually on trial?” Ed asked. “By the time it got to The New York Times, the law was on trial.”

The jury was forced to convict Ed on the evidence presented, but many jurors publicly denounced their verdict when they learned the government had barred them from hearing the truth. The public backlash from the political prosecution and public statements from jurors largely factored into Ed’s June 2003 sentencing to one day in federal prison with credit for time served in a local jail the day of the arrest. 

“This is Day 1 in the crusade to bring down the marijuana laws. The federal government makes no distinction between medical and recreational marijuana. They’re right, All marijuana should be legal,” Ed said in a press conference after the sentencing, vowing to fight his conviction despite the lenient sentencing.