MARIJUANA 'GURU' FREE AFTER 1 DAY SENTENCE

Jurors Had Said They Would Not Have Convicted Ed Rosenthal at His
Federal Trial in February If They Had Known He Was Helping Patients In
Oakland Under a 1996 State Law.

SAN FRANCISCO -- In a ruling that stunned both the prosecutors and
defense attorneys, a federal judge allowed legalized marijuana
advocate Ed Rosenthal to walk free Wednesday.

Rosenthal, convicted in February of growing more than 100 marijuana
plants in an Oakland warehouse, has become the centerpiece of a
growing national debate about medical marijuana and a battle between
the federal government and the nine states in which it is legal.

Rosenthal said he had legal standing to do so under Proposition 215, a
1996 voter-approved measure that legalized medical marijuana in the
state. And he said he was acting as an agent for the city of Oakland's
medical marijuana program.

But during the trial, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer ruled that
Rosenthal's defense was not admissible in federal court because U.S.
law does not distinguish between medicinal and recreational uses of
marijuana.

The case received a great deal of attention. Immediately after the
conviction, a majority of jurors said they would have voted to acquit
Rosenthal had they known the plants were to be used medicinally to
aid, among others, cancer and AIDS patients.

In his sentencing, Breyer made clear that the Rosenthal case presented
"extraordinary circumstances," which warranted a one-day sentence,
with credit for time served. Rosenthal spent a day in jail after his
arrest by federal drug enforcement officers last year.

"Believing he was an official of the city of Oakland is not relative
to his guilt or innocence," Breyer said. "But it is relevant to
sentencing. It's erroneous, but reasonable for him to believe that he
was protected by a City Council ordinance."

Moreover, eight of the 12 jurors also asked the judge in a May 27
letter to Breyer "to bring the law into alignment with morality and
ethics" by sparing Rosenthal prison time "because we convicted him
without having all of the evidence."

Breyer's ruling, though a clear personal victory for Rosenthal,
contained an element of defeat for proponents of medicinal marijuana.

"This case could not and should not happen again," Breyer said in the
packed courtroom. "Others are now on notice that a state or a
municipality cannot ignore federal marijuana laws."

Nevertheless, the ruling was celebrated joyously by dozens of
Rosenthal supporters. The pungent aroma of marijuana could clearly be
smelled immediately outside Breyer's courtroom, where some 200 medical
marijuana advocates awaited the sentencing.

Assistant U.S. Atty. George Bevan, who prosecuted the case, had asked
the judge for a minimum sentence of five years, arguing that
Rosenthal's pot-growing operation was not a "humanitarian" operation,
but a "cash cow."

"He put out thousands of plants," said Bevan, who refused questions
from the media and rushed out of the courtroom after the hearing. "I
don't think anyone disagrees with helping sick people, but as far as
we're concerned, it was a business."

Standing in a parking lot across the street from the San Francisco
Federal Building, Rosenthal, in a fiery speech, claimed victory. The
59-year-old self-professed "Guru of Ganja" called Breyer and the
prosecutors "corrupt" and demanded their immediate
resignation.

"Judge Breyer made me a felon," Rosenthal said, "and that is
unacceptable."

Rosenthal and his defense attorney, Dennis Riordan, said they would
appeal the original conviction.

"This is Day One in the crusade to bring down the marijuana laws, all
the marijuana laws," Rosenthal told his cheering supporters. "These
laws are doomed."