MARIJUANA GURU RELEASED ON BOND PENDING TRIAL

SAN FRANCISCO - Medical marijuana advocate Ed Rosenthal was granted
release on a $50,000 personal recognizance bond today while he awaits
a federal trial in San Francisco on drug cultivation and money
laundering charges.

The bond was set by U.S. Magistrate Nandor Vadas in San Francisco and
was halfway between requests by prosecution and defense lawyers.
Prosecutors had asked for a $100,000 bond while Rosenthal's attorney
asked that he be released on his own recognizance.

Rosenthal's next court date is a status conference on Oct. 25 before
U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer, the judge who will preside over
his retrial.

Rosenthal, 61, of Oakland, the author of 13 books about marijuana, was
previously convicted in Breyer's court in 2003 of three
marijuana-related felonies and sentenced to a day in prison.

But a federal appeals court overturned the conviction earlier this
year because of juror misconduct, thus paving the way for a retrial.

In the retrial, Rosenthal will face additional money laundering and
tax evasion counts that were added to previous marijuana cultivation
charges in a superseding indictment returned by a federal grand jury
on Oct. 12.

He is accused of growing marijuana for a now-defunct dispensary in San
Francisco.

Rosenthal has claimed outside of court that he sought to help patients
who needed medical marijuana. But federal drug laws make no exception
for a California law that allows seriously ill patients to use medical
marijuana on a doctor's recommendation.