Pubdate: Mon, 2 Jun 2003
Source: International Herald-Tribune (France)
Copyright: International Herald Tribune 2003
Contact:  http://www.iht.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/212
Note: The New York Times editorial service cited as source
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Ed+Rosenthal (Rosenthal, Ed)

A MISCARRIAGE OF JUSTICE

Ed Rosenthal, an advocate of medical marijuana, is to be sentenced this 
week on marijuana cultivation charges. His conviction, by a California jury 
that was made to believe he was a common drug trafficker, was a miscarriage 
of justice.

Growing marijuana for medical use is legal under the California 
Compassionate Use Act, passed by the voters in 1996, and Rosenthal was 
authorized by the City of Oakland to grow it. But U.S. law does not 
distinguish between growing medical marijuana and run-of-the-mill drug 
cultivation. At Rosenthal's trial, Judge Charles Breyer prohibited the jury 
from hearing a medical-marijuana defense.

Rosenthal could receive up to 60 years in prison. The prosecutor has asked 
for five years. But Rosenthal should not receive any prison time at all. It 
is a waste of law enforcement resources to prosecute and incarcerate 
medical marijuana cultivators, particularly in California, which has 
expressly made it legal, and after a trial in which the jurors were not 
told the full story.

Growing marijuana for medical use is legal under the California 
Compassionate Use Act, passed by the voters in 1996, and Rosenthal was 
authorized by the City of Oakland to grow it. But U.S. law does not 
distinguish between growing medical marijuana and run-of-the-mill drug 
cultivation. At Rosenthal's trial, Judge Charles Breyer prohibited the jury 
from hearing a medical-marijuana defense.
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