TOMMY CHONG TO HELP 'GANJA GURU'

Rosenthal Expects More Than $300,000 In Legal Expenses From Trial To
Begin In March

"Guru of Ganja" Ed Rosenthal is bringing in another celebrity of the
marijuana movement to help him raise funds for his upcoming federal
trial. Tommy Chong, of the Cheech and Chong comedy duo renowned for
stoner movie classics such as "Up in Smoke" and "Nice Dreams," will
appear at a $125-per-head event March 4 at Rosenthal's Lake Avenue
home in Piedmont. Some advance tickets are available for only $100
from Rosenthal's legal defense fund's Web site,
http://www.green-aid.com. "The party will celebrate how far we've
come in legalizing medical marijuana as well as provide me with the
money I need to fund my current trial that is defending all of our
rights," Rosenthal, 62, said in an e-mail Thursday.

He's scheduled to appear in federal court March 19, and he estimates
his trial and related expenses could cost more than $300,000. Chong
was prosecuted, convicted and served nine months in federal prison a
few years ago as part of a federal crackdown on purveyors of drug
paraphernalia. He had financed and promoted a line of glass water
pipes often used for smoking marijuana, and he said he pleaded guilty
to prevent charges from being filed against his wife and son. The
case made Chong, already beloved for his comedy act, a poster boy
among marijuana advocates.

Famed for his marijuana cultivation books and the "Ask Ed" column he
wrote for High Times magazine, Rosenthal was convicted of three
marijuana-growing felonies Advertisement in 2003, more than a year
after federal agents raided sites including his Oakland home, an
Oakland warehouse in which he was growing marijuana, and a San
Francisco medical marijuana club he supplied. Medical use of
marijuana on a doctor's recommendation is legal under state law but
prohibited by federal law, so Rosenthal was barred from mounting a
medical defense at trial.

A judge sentenced him to one day behind bars - time he'd already served.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned his convictions in
April 2006, finding that juror misconduct - a juror's conversation
with an attorney-friend during deliberations - compromised
Rosenthal's right to a fair verdict and so warranted a new trial.

But the court also rejected Rosenthal's claim of immunity from
prosecution as an officer of Oakland who grew the drug under the
city's medical marijuana ordinance.

Federal prosecutors filed a new indictment with additional charges in
October, essentially claiming Rosenthal from October 2001 through
February 2002 conspired with Kenneth Hayes and Richard Watts to grow
marijuana at sites on Sixth Street in San Francisco and on Mandela
Parkway in Oakland; laundered marijuana proceeds by buying four money
orders totaling $1,854 during that time; and falsified tax returns
for 1999, 2000 and 2001 by omitting income from his marijuana distribution.

Hayes and Watts face similar, related charges.

Both were charged after the same 2002 raids that nabbed Rosenthal,
but injuries sustained in a car accident have kept Watts from trial
until now and Hayes fled to Canada just before he was indicted.