KING OF POT SEES GROWING KINGDOM

Oakland's Ed Rosenthal Has Inspired Activists and Lawmakers Alike

by Josh Richman, Staff Writer

Ripples created by the prosecution of Ed Rosenthal, the self-proclaimed "Guru of Ganja," roll onward even as his day of judgment draws near.

U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer on Wednesday could accept Rosenthal's lawyers' request for probation, probation officers' request for 21 months in federal prison or a prosecutor's request for five years behind bars - or something else entirely.

Breyer might allow the Oakland resident to remain free pending his appeal, which will be filed immediately. But whether or not he's in a cell, Rosenthal is likely to remain the nation's foremost medical marijuana martyr.

Ethan Nadelmann, who as executive director of the New York based Drug Policy Alliance is among the nation's leading drug reform advocates, said he has heard Manhattan taxi drivers mention Rosenthal's case in idle chit-chat.

"It's probably one of the few things in the whole drug war which caught the eyes of literally millions of people," Nadelmann said.

Rosenthal and his supporters call his case a "tipping point," a final straw outrageous enough to require changing federal law so marijuana can be made widely available as medicine. Nadelmann is only cautiously optimistic.

"One never knows what actually is the tipping point -- this has as good a chance as any," he said. "But what you have in Washington right now is an administration that seems to have no shame, and the tipping point depends in part on shocking the conscience of the ordinary American. It's hard to see what's going to make ( the Bush administration ) budge."

Bush might feint toward the political center as 2004's election campaign heats up, but he's unlikely to soften his medical marijuana stance, Nadelmann said.

Rosenthal, 58, is renowned for his books on cannabis cultivation and law, and for the "Ask Ed" column he penned in High Times magazine. Federal agents arrested him in February 2002 during raids on sites including his home, a West Oakland building where he grew marijuana and a San Francisco medical marijuana club to which he supplied plants.

Rosenthal said he complied with California's 1996 medical marijuana law, and noted he's an agent of the Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative, which the Oakland City Council in 1998 deemed an officer of the city, immune to prosecution. But Breyer wouldn't allow Rosenthal to mount those defenses at trial, ruling that federal law - which bans all marijuana growing, possession and use - trumps state and local law, and is the only relevant authority in federal court.

Jurors convicted Rosenthal of three marijuana felonies punishable by a mandatory minimum of five years in prison. Afterward, when learning of the state and city protections Breyer kept them from considering, many jurors disavowed their verdict and spoke in Rosenthal's favor.

"What made the case stand out was what happened with the jurors, actually stepping out afterward and saying 'We had no idea what we did, we can't sleep at night,'" Nadelmann said.

It did in Washington, D.C., at least.

"The Rosenthal trial gave us the idea of a new medical marijuana bill that has better legs on Capitol Hill than previous bills had," said Marijuana Policy Project executive director Robert Kampia. "We had been thinking for months about how we could reframe the medical marijuana debate."

Kampia's group has backed a series of bills carried by U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., to lessen federal restriction of marijuana and allow states to permit medicinal use. Those bills received a few more co-sponsors with each Congress.

Now the group is backing a "Truth in Trials Act" bill, introduced by three California House members and which would allow federal criminal defendants to avoid prison by proving they complied with their state's medical marijuana law. Another 31 House members have signed on as co-sponsors; Kampia says he expects to have more than 50 by the end of this year. Kampia believes the bill, now cooling its heels in two subcommittees, "probably will be easier for members of Congress to support because it has that free-speech feel to it and everybody likes a fair trial."

In the Bay Area, cryptic "Free Ed. Free the Jury. Free America." billboards dot the urban landscape, placed by a Massachusetts nonprofit group that is partly bankrolled by an Ohio insurance tycoon who has funded medical marijuana and drug law reform efforts across the nation.

Rosenthal's case also gave rise to Green Aid, a nonprofit charity that helps pay medical marijuana patients' and providers' legal costs. Green Aid allows donors to give money to a specific case - for now, a choice between Rosenthal; Lynn and Judy Osburn of Los Angeles; or the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana near Santa Cruz - or to general legal or education funds.

Green Aid President Virginia Resner, an author and activist against the drug war, estimates "not quite $400,000" has been donated, about half of which was earmarked for Rosenthal's case and came from "all over the United States and also from Europe."

Green Aid Secretary/Treasurer Carol Ruth Silver, a San Francisco attorney, said "every time the court does some outrageous thing, the phone begins to light up and the Web site has people logging on and making donations."

"But we are certainly not where we need to be. We needed to raise about $200,000 just for the ( Rosenthal ) trial and actions up to the point of an appeal," she added; years of appeals could cost millions more.

Resner said Friday that she hopes Rosenthal stays free pending his appeal because "he's his own best fund-raiser." Indeed, Rosenthal pressed the flesh Sunday night, signing copies of his updated "Why Marijuana Should Be Legal" book in Berkeley. It was the latest - and if Breyer locks him up, the last - of many appearances he's made across Northern California.

Kampia doesn't believe Rosenthal's longtime pro-marijuana activism, far predating any talk of medical use, makes him a less-than-desirable poster boy for the issue. Polls show that while as many as eight in 10 Americans favor allowing medical marijuana use, almost half that many favor total legalization, he said.