PRISON LOOMS OVER POT KING'S BATTLE

Rosenthal Likely To Remain Nation's Foremost Medical Marijuana Martyr

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

U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer on Wednesday could accept Rosenthal's
lawyers' request for probation or 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 let the Oakland resident remain free pending his appeal, which
will be filed pronto. But whether he's in a cell or not, 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. If he changes any drug policy, it is likelier to be the
inequity of penalties for crack cocaine and powder cocaine, a racially
charged issue more apt to bring in votes.

Rosenthal, 58, is renowned for his books on cannabis cultivation and law,
and for the "Ask Ed" column he penned for 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 let Rosenthal 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 own 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. "I think that took it to another level."

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 let states
permit medicinal use. Those bills got a few more co-sponsors with each
passing Congress, but never made it to hearings or votes.

Now the group is backing a "Truth in Trials Act" bill, introduced by three
California House members to let federal criminal defendants 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 2003's end. 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."

Back in the Bay Area, cryptic "Free Ed. Free the Jury. Free America."
billboards dot the urban landscape, placed by a Massachusetts nonprofit
group that's 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
lets donors target 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 she hopes Rosenthal stays free pending his appeal
because "he's his own best fundraiser." 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 to spread word
of his situation.

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 up to eight in 10 Americans favor
allowing medical marijuana use, almost half that many favor total
legalization, he said.

"So we're talking about tens of millions of Americans who fall in the same
category as Ed Rosenthal," Kampia said. "Yeah, Ed's been published more
than most Americans... but that shouldn't be held against him."