FEDS TARGET ROSENTHAL

Still licking their wounds, federal prosecutors have fired another shot at
freed grass guru Ed Rosenthal, appealing the light sentence that let the
convicted medical pot grower walk away a free man last month.

The motion, filed late Thursday in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, does
not go into any detail about the grounds of appeal, according to Assistant
United States Attorney Matthew Jacobs, who would not comment on why the
Department of Justice decided to appeal the sentence.

Rosenthal, who despite getting zero jail time is appealing the felony
conviction, said the government's appeal was "not surprising."

"They are wasting more taxpayers' money trying to put me in prison for
this," said Rosenthal. "It would be absurd, if it were not so serious."

Rosenthal was convicted last spring of growing pot in an Oakland warehouse.
The marijuana growing operation, which supplied a dispensary on Sixth Street
in San Francisco, was legal under California law and had been inspected and
signed off on by Oakland city officials.

But because federal law does not recognize medical pot, Judge Charles Breyer
excluded any testimony dealing with California law, which allows for the
medical use of weed with doctors' approval. After the trial, a majority of
the jurors who convicted Rosenthal said they would have reached a different
verdict had they been allowed to consider the purposes of the growth and
that Rosenthal was acting in accordance with local and state laws.

Golden Gate University law school dean Peter Keane said the government
usually appeals sentencing only when it falls outside of sentencing
guidelines, which Rosenthal's did not. He suggested the appeal would not get
very far.

"I think the Ninth Circuit is going to knock that appeal down quicker that
you can knock down a stack of cards on your desk," said Keane.

Keane said the San Francisco United States Attorney's office is being
pressured to take a stand by the U.S. Justice Department, which does not
recognize medicinal uses of pot.

"The U.S. Attorney got its marching orders from Washington, as a matter of
course," he said. "(Attorney General John) Ashcroft is very idealistic on
the subject of marijuana and medical marijuana and wants the U.S. Attorney
to emphasize the fact that they don't like it."

Rosenthal said U.S. Attorney George Bevan, who led the government's case
against him, should let it rest.

"They should be happy with what they got," he said. "Right now, I'm a felon
and by the time I'm done with this, not only will I be exonerated, the
courts will find that these laws should be thrown out."