GOING TO POT

We'll find out next week just how far a California federal judge is
willing to go to run roughshod over the rights of defendant Ed
Rosenthal and the will of Golden State voters.

Mr. Rosenthal was convicted earlier this year on federal drug charges
for cultivating marijuana. But he was no ordinary pot grower. Mr.
Rosenthal had been deputized by the city of Oakland to produce medical
marijuana under a law approved overwhelmingly in 1996 by
Californians.

The federal drug warriors, of course, have little respect for most of
the Constitution, let alone the 10th Amendment. They busted Mr.
Rosenthal, the laws of the sovereign state of California be damned.

They then found a willing toady in U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer
(the brother of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer). During a
sham trial, Judge Breyer refused to let Mr. Rosenthal's attorneys
inform the jury of his defense: that he was operating under the
imprimatur of the city of Oakland, in accordance with California law.

The jury convicted, but when informed of all the facts after the
trial, nine of the 12 decried their own verdict and said they would
have voted to let Mr. Rosenthal go free had they known the real story.

Having rigged the system to get the outcome he desired, Judge Breyer
will pass sentence on June 6. The federal Probation Department is
recommending 21 months; prosecutors want five years. But California
Attorney General Bill Lockyer has written to Judge Breyer urging the
most lenient sentence allowed. That would exclude jail time.

We'll find out next week whether Judge Breyer runs this farce into the
ground or finally comes to his senses.