KING OF POT SEES GROWING KINGDOM

Oakland's Ed Rosenthal Has Inspired Activists and Lawmakers Alike

Ripples created by the prosecution of Ed Rosenthal, the
self-proclaimed "Guru of Ganja," roll onward even as his day of
judgment draws near.

U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer on Wednesday could accept
Rosenthal's lawyers' request for probation, probation officers'
request for 21 months in federal prison or a prosecutor's request for
five years behind bars - or something else entirely.

Breyer might allow the Oakland resident to remain free pending his
appeal, which will be filed immediately. But whether or not he's in a
cell, Rosenthal is likely to remain the nation's foremost medical
marijuana martyr.

Ethan Nadelmann, who as executive director of the New York based Drug
Policy Alliance is among the nation's leading drug reform advocates,
said he has heard Manhattan taxi drivers mention Rosenthal's case in
idle chit-chat.

"It's probably one of the few things in the whole drug war which
caught the eyes of literally millions of people," Nadelmann said.

Rosenthal and his supporters call his case a "tipping point," a final
straw outrageous enough to require changing federal law so marijuana
can be made widely available as medicine. Nadelmann is only cautiously
optimistic.

"One never knows what actually is the tipping point -- this has as
good a chance as any," he said. "But what you have in Washington right
now is an administration that seems to have no shame, and the tipping
point depends in part on shocking the conscience of the ordinary
American. It's hard to see what's going to make (the Bush
administration) budge."

Bush might feint toward the political center as 2004's election
campaign heats up, but he's unlikely to soften his medical marijuana
stance, Nadelmann said.

Rosenthal, 58, is renowned for his books on cannabis cultivation and
law, and for the "Ask Ed" column he penned in High Times magazine.
Federal agents arrested him in February 2002 during raids on sites
including his home, a West Oakland building where he grew marijuana
and a San Francisco medical marijuana club to which he supplied plants.

Rosenthal said he complied with California's 1996 medical marijuana
law, and noted he's an agent of the Oakland Cannabis Buyers
Cooperative, which the Oakland City Council in 1998 deemed an officer
of the city, immune to prosecution. But Breyer wouldn't allow
Rosenthal to mount those defenses at trial, ruling that federal law -
which bans all marijuana growing, possession and use - trumps state
and local law, and is the only relevant authority in federal court.

Jurors convicted Rosenthal of three marijuana felonies punishable by a
mandatory minimum of five years in prison. Afterward, when learning of
the state and city protections Breyer kept them from considering, many
jurors disavowed their verdict and spoke in Rosenthal's favor.

"What made the case stand out was what happened with the jurors,
actually stepping out afterward and saying 'We had no idea what we
did, we can't sleep at night,'" Nadelmann said.

It did in Washington, D.C., at least.

"The Rosenthal trial gave us the idea of a new medical marijuana bill
that has better legs on Capitol Hill than previous bills had," said
Marijuana Policy Project executive director Robert Kampia. "We had
been thinking for months about how we could reframe the medical
marijuana debate."

Kampia's group has backed a series of bills carried by U.S. Rep.
Barney Frank, D-Mass., to lessen federal restriction of marijuana and
allow states to permit medicinal use. Those bills received a few more
co-sponsors with each Congress.

Now the group is backing a "Truth in Trials Act" bill, introduced by
three California House members and which would allow federal criminal
defendants to avoid prison by proving they complied with their state's
medical marijuana law. Another 31 House members have signed on as
co-sponsors; Kampia says he expects to have more than 50 by the end of
this year. Kampia believes the bill, now cooling its heels in two
subcommittees, "probably will be easier for members of Congress to
support because it has that free-speech feel to it and everybody likes
a fair trial."

In the Bay Area, cryptic "Free Ed. Free the Jury. Free America."
billboards dot the urban landscape, placed by a Massachusetts
nonprofit group that is partly bankrolled by an Ohio insurance tycoon
who has funded medical marijuana and drug law reform efforts across
the nation.

Rosenthal's case also gave rise to Green Aid, a nonprofit charity that
helps pay medical marijuana patients' and providers' legal costs.
Green Aid allows donors to give money to a specific case - for now, a
choice between Rosenthal; Lynn and Judy Osburn of Los Angeles; or the
Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana near Santa Cruz - or to
general legal or education funds.

Green Aid President Virginia Resner, an author and activist against
the drug war, estimates "not quite $400,000" has been donated, about
half of which was earmarked for Rosenthal's case and came from "all
over the United States and also from Europe."

Green Aid Secretary/Treasurer Carol Ruth Silver, a San Francisco
attorney, said "every time the court does some outrageous thing, the
phone begins to light up and the Web site has people logging on and
making donations."

"But we are certainly not where we need to be. We needed to raise
about $200,000 just for the (Rosenthal) trial and actions up to the
point of an appeal," she added; years of appeals could cost millions
more.

Resner said Friday that she hopes Rosenthal stays free pending his
appeal because "he's his own best fund-raiser." Indeed, Rosenthal
pressed the flesh Sunday night, signing copies of his updated "Why
Marijuana Should Be Legal" book in Berkeley. It was the latest - and
if Breyer locks him up, the last - of many appearances he's made
across Northern California.

Kampia doesn't believe Rosenthal's longtime pro-marijuana activism,
far predating any talk of medical use, makes him a less-than-desirable
poster boy for the issue. Polls show that while as many as eight in 10
Americans favor allowing medical marijuana use, almost half that many
favor total legalization, he said.