1 Jail Day for Marijuana Felony
Jurors Rebelled at Own Verdict on Medicinal Use Advocate

By Rene Sanchez, Washington Post Staff Writer

One of the nation's most prominent advocates of giving chronically sick or dying patients legal access to marijuana was sentenced today to a day in jail for the felony conviction federal prosecutors won against him for cultivating and distributing the drug.

The case of Ed Rosenthal, 58, has become a symbol of the escalating battle between the federal government and the eight states that have legalized the medicinal use of marijuana.

U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer in San Francisco dismissed a recommendation by prosecutors that Rosenthal be sent to prison for at least five years and instead gave him the one-day sentence and set him free, saying he had served the time.

In February, a federal jury convicted Rosenthal, an author and self-proclaimed "Guru of Ganja,'' for growing 100 marijuana plants in an Oakland, Calif., warehouse.

Rosenthal had been raising them for patients with the approval of health officials in the San Francisco Bay Area, but Breyer had forbidden that information to be introduced in court because the federal government does not recognize marijuana as a drug that has medical benefits. Upon learning that after the trial, jurors publicly rebuked their verdict.

For months, groups that support using marijuana for medicinal purposes have been campaigning to spare Rosenthal from prison. After sentencing today, they rejoiced and said the outcome of his case will give their movement momentum.

"For all practical purposes, Judge Breyer just overturned the federal law banning medical marijuana," said Bruce Mirken, a spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project, a Washington group that promotes legalizing the drug for medical use. "This could be the final crack in the wall that brings the whole federal war on medical marijuana patients crashing down, and it's about time."

Rosenthal told reporters after his sentencing that he grows and distributes marijuana only to help people who are suffering and predicted that laws prohibiting such steps are now "doomed."

Prosecutors in San Francisco declined comment and said they are uncertain if they will appeal Breyer's decision. But other federal authorities warned that crackdowns on marijuana traffickers will continue.

"It would be unfortunate if anyone misread the ruling today to mean the federal government isn't going to enforce our laws against drug trafficking," said Tom Riley, a spokesman for the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. "Marijuana is a dangerous drug.

"It would be even more unfortunate," he added, "if the ruling misled sick people who are truly suffering and steered them away from the best medicine and practices."

Using marijuana for medicinal purposes has been legal in California since 1996, when voters approved the groundbreaking Proposition 215. Since then, seven other states, mostly in the West, have adopted similar measures. Last month, Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) signed legislation that reduces criminal penalties for the medical use of marijuana but stops short of legalization.

Two years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that federal law bars the distribution of marijuana even for medicinal purposes.

Since then, over the objections of many officials in California, federal agents have been raiding marijuana farms and clinics around the state that give marijuana to patients with serious illnesses. Several other marijuana growers and providers are awaiting prosecution.

Special correspondent Kimberly Edds contributed to this report.