CALIFORNIAN 'GURU OF GANJA' FACES JAIL IN CRACKDOWN ON MEDICINAL MARIJUANA

by Duncan Campbell

A high-profile American campaigner for the legalisation of marijuana will be sentenced tomorrow in what has become a national cause celebre.

The case of the "guru of ganja"- who is backed by the attorney general of California - is seen as a constitutional battle between the Bush administration and the state.

Ed Rosenthal, 58, who writes a monthly advice column, Ask Ed, for Cannabis Culture magazine, is a leading proponent of medicinal marijuana use.

In 1996, California's voters legalised the use of marijuana for patients suffering from illnesses such as Aids, cancer and glaucoma if recommended by a doctor. Similar acts have been passed in other states. Oakland city council duly asked Rosenthal, as an expert cultivator, to grow plants for medicinal use at a warehouse.

However, the federal government does not recognise state laws on drugs. Since John Ashcroft became United States attorney general in 2000, the drugs enforcement administration ( DEA ) has opposed medicinal marijuana initiatives, saying they represent the thin end of the wedge. Rosenthal was arrested by federal officers last year and charged with marijuana production. He was convicted and he will be sentenced in San Francisco tomorrow.

On the instructions of presiding Judge Charles Breyer, the jury was not told that Rosenthal was growing the 100 or so plants officially for the city council and for the use of patients, including the terminally ill. When jurors discovered this after the conviction, five of them issued a public apology to Rosenthal and asked in vain for a retrial.

"I really feel manipulated," said one juror, Pam Klarkowsky. "I feel the jury was railroaded into making this decision."

Rosenthal, author of books such as Ask Ed: Marijuana Law, Don't Get Busted, said he believed that he had been arrested because of his high profile and as a warning to others. "I was a well-known figure," he said yesterday as he prepared for his court appearance. "I was a trophy."

The case was not so much about him as about the constitutional rights of Americans to have their votes respected by their government. He believed that John Ashcroft had personally supported the prosecution. "The United States is currently in the control of a rightwing cabal that has taken over the government."

Rosenthal, married with two children, said he had received widespread support "from every sector of society, including the church and seniors. My position is a majority position".

He has also won the backing of many locally elected officials, including San Francisco's district attorney, Terence Halinan. Bill Lockyer, California's attorney general who is a likely gubernatorial candidate in 2006, has written to Judge Breyer asking for leniency and reminding him of the state's 1996 compassionate-use act.

The prosecution is seeking a five-year sentence on the grounds that Rosenthal has expressed no remorse.

Rosenthal is the latest medicinal supplier in California to be targeted by the DEA. Many medical marijuana clubs have been closed after federal raids.

The case raises the constitutional issue of states' rights which the Bush administration came to office vowing to defend. California's supreme court ruled last July that people who grew marijuana for medicinal use were immune from prosecution if use was authorised by a doctor.

The case coincides with a crackdown on sellers of marijuana paraphernalia. Last month, Tommy Chong, half of the 1970s comedy duo Cheech and Chong, pleaded guilty to selling marijuana pipes via the internet. Chong, 64, who is based in Los Angeles, will be sentenced in September and could face five years in prison.

The DEA launched a series of raids against the trade in February. "The illegal drug paraphernalia industry has invaded the homes of families across the country without their knowledge," Mr Ashcroft said at the time.

Sanho Tree, of the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, said the prosecutions of Rosenthal and Chong came at a time when other countries, such as Canada, were relaxing marijuana laws, adding: "Ashcroft and the DEA are fighting a culture war, not a drugs war. It smacks of a last, desperate attempt."