CONVICTED AGAIN FOR DRUG OFFENSE

A marijuana advocate was convicted again in federal court of illegally
growing hundreds of marijuana plants that he said were meant to treat
sick people, which state law allows. The man, Ed Rosenthal, was
convicted after Judge Charles R. Breyer of Federal District Court in
San Francisco, prohibited Mr. Rosenthal's lawyers from telling the
jury that he was working for a marijuana club sanctioned by Oakland
officials. Mr. Rosenthal, 63, will not serve time. He was convicted of
the same charges in 2003 and sentenced to a day in prison because the
judge said Mr. Rosenthal had reasonably believed he was immune from
prosecution because he was acting on behalf of city officials. An
appeals court threw out that conviction. The judge has said he will
not sentence Mr. Rosenthal to more time.