PROTEST OF ANTICIPATED MARIJUANA SENTENCE TURNS CELEBRATORY

Would-Be Demonstrators Learn California Man Received One Day In Jail

FAYETTEVILLE -- Advocates of the use of medicinal marijuana who were
protesting the sentencing of a California activist were overjoyed Wednesday
to learn that the man received only one day in jail.

Nine people showed up at the Fayetteville Town Center to protest the
anticipated sentencing of a well-known marijuana grower, Ed Rosenthal, by
the federal 9th Circuit Court in San Francisco. Rosenthal, who was arrested
on several marijuana-related charges, faced up to 60 years in jail. U.S.
District Judge Charles Breyer, however, sentenced Rosenthal to one day in
jail, with credit for time served.

None of the Fayetteville protesters had received word of Rosenthal's
sentence when the protest began. When told, they burst into laughter and
applause.

"Forget the protest," said Mark Swaney of Fayetteville. "Let's go have a
party."

Swaney was joined by a local advocate, Tom Brown, and several members of the
Sacred Truth Mission, a local church that regards cannabis as a sacrament.

"The whole deal with marijuana laws is crap," Brown said. "Aspirin kills
people every day, but even the federal government's research says you can't
put enough marijuana in your body to kill you."

Rosenthal was also fined $1,000 and placed on supervised release for three
years. He maintained that his growth operation, based in Oakland, Calif.,
was intended to provide medicinal marijuana to sick patients. Such a
business is allowed by state law in California and eight other states,
although the federal government still considers any use of marijuana
illegal.