MEDICAL MARIJUANA IS HELPFUL, NOT HARMFUL

Thanks to Doug Hissom for the update on Ed Rosenthal in the June 12
Expresso, "Ed Spared."

Hissom was right: Ed is a hero. Ed's sentence, which also requires three
years of federal probation, will be appealed. In a recent e-mail to a
California drug policy reform listserv, Ed said the judge did him no favors,
outlining a number of his questionable actions. He said the judge acted more
like a prosecutor, denying the introduction of key evidence and refusing to
OK defense motions regarding some of the prosecutor's actions. Rosenthal
also called his sentencing "a sugar-coated poison pill," noting that the
judge's terms explicitly precluded future defendants from using defenses
that were excluded from his own trial, including issues involving the Ninth
and 10th amendments to the Constitution, the commerce clause, federal
immunity and lesser harm.

A ruling from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Ed's appeal is expected to
take more than a year. Still, the fact that Rosenthal avoided prison is a
sign that the federal bench is not immune to Americans' overwhelming support
for legalizing medical marijuana. As Ed says, "These laws are doomed!"

Gary Storck Madison