TRIAL LOOMS FOR MARIJUANA ACTIVIST

More Testimony on Pre-Trial

SAN FRANCISCO -- It looks like pro-marijuana author and activist Ed
Rosenthal of Oakland is headed for trial soon on the federal drug
charges against him.

U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer today will hear testimony from
Oakland Chief Assistant City Attorney Barbara Parker on whether
Rosenthal might have honestly believed the city's policies on medical
marijuana use protected him from federal prosecution.

But Breyer on Wednesday didn't seem to think what he hears today will
lead to him granting Rosenthal's lawyers' motions to set aside part or
all of the case.

Instead, he ordered that the parties plan to be in court next Thursday
to start picking a jury so Rosenthal's trial can begin Tuesday, Jan.
21.

Assistant U.S. Attorney George Bevan estimated it would take him up to
five days to present the government's case, while Rosenthal's
attorneys said they'd need several days, depending on how Breyer rules
on the rest of their pre-trial motions.

Rosenthal, 58, a widely known pro-marijuana activist and author, was
among those arrested last February when Drug Enforcement
Administration agents raided his home office and other Oakland sites;
the Harm Reduction Center medical marijuana club in San Francisco, and
the Petaluma home of Harm Reduction Center founder Ken Hayes.

California law says medical use of marijuana is legal; federal law
says it isn't.

Court documents show the DEA claims Rosenthal and the others arrested
in the Feb. 12 raids were involved not only in a medical marijuana
dispensary, but in growing marijuana and selling it for profit to
almost anyone, using state law as a smokescreen for illegal activity.

Rosenthal's case has become a rallying point for medical marijuana
activists and
even inspired the creation of a charitable group - Green Aid: Medical Marijuana
Legal Defense & Education Fund, Inc.

Breyer on Wednesday denied Rosenthal's lawyers' motions to exclude
evidence seized in the raids based on the inadequacy of affidavits
supporting the DEA's search warrant. They had claimed agents didn't
make a sufficient showing of probable cause, but Breyer found otherwise.