STOP SNITCHING

Medical Pot Activists Haze The Traitors Who Ratted Out
Ed Rosenthal

Our local medical marijuana activists have been engaging in some heavy
peer pressure recently. This spring, as the second federal trial
against pot guru Ed Rosenthal approached, the activists went on a
bullying campaign to keep witnesses from testifying against Rosenthal
by whatever means necessary.

The often farcical trial ended last week, with convictions on several
charges of violating federal drug laws (although under state law his
medical marijuana operation was entirely legal). Rosenthal faces no
punishment beyond the one day of jail time he served after his first
conviction in 2003. But activists still believed that the trial had
high stakes and intimidated witnesses.

Two who planned to cooperate with the government started feeling the
heat in April. Angry and sometimes vicious e-mails circulated
regarding Rick Watts and Bob Martin, who were both involved with
several cannabis clubs back when Rosenthal was busted. When Watts
organized a Cannabis Freedom Day celebration, the activist group Axis
of Love declared a boycott. A press release from the group's executive
director, Shona Gochenaur, castigated those testifiying against
Rosenthal as traitors to the medical marijuana community, cooperating
with the feds "in order to save their own hides."

Apparently, it was enough to convince Watts. He didn't appear in court
on the scheduled day, and the judge had to send the cops to bring him
in. When he took the stand as a hostile witness, he was no help to the
prosecution. He insisted that he had merely been a carpenter at the
cannabis clubs in question, and was too busy pounding nails to notice
what was being grown and sold there.

Bob Martin, however, was another story -- he testified willingly in
2003, and did so again last week. He and Rosenthal have an
antagonistic history involving one lawsuit, and Rosenthal once threw
Martin out of a NORML conference, "because he was a snitch," says Rosenthal.

Martin, the owner of two active cannabis clubs, has become the green
devil to many activists. Lynnette Shaw, who runs the Marin Alliance
for Medical Marijuana, says that Martin "sold everybody out for a
comfortable little place selling pot." She notes that the federal
government is clearly aware of Martin's two businesses, but allows
them to operate with impunity.

We tried to reach Martin for comment, but no one answered the phone at
either of his clubs. So we'll blithely assume that he's either hiding
from the wrath of his fellow potheads, or sharing a bowl with the feds.