cannabisnews.com: Ed Rosenthal Pot-Growing Icon Takes Raid in Stride





Ed Rosenthal Pot-Growing Icon Takes Raid in Stride
Posted by FoM on February 25, 2002 at 07:52:36 PT
By Jim Herron Zamora, Chronicle Staff Writer
Source: San Francisco Chronicle 
For almost three decades, Ed Rosenthal has helped thousands of criminals commit a better crime. "I just give advice on how to cultivate a better garden," Rosenthal said. "It's not my fault that marijuana -- the plant that is my specialty -- is still illegal." The 57-year-old Oakland resident is possibly the world's No. 1 authority on growing marijuana. He has penned more than a dozen books and the "Ask Ed" column for High Times and Cannabis Culture magazines.
He even gave tips to the Reagan administration on growing pot at a federal test farm in Mississippi. Over the years, Rosenthal said, he just doled out advice but didn't actually grow dope himself. But on Feb. 12, he got busted. Rosenthal is one of men facing federal charges of producing more than 100 marijuana plants for sale at the Harm Reduction Center, a San Francisco medicinal marijuana club. The raid was the third in the state since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year that federal anti-drug law makes no exception for seriously ill patients using pot under California's medicinal marijuana law, Proposition 215, approved by voters in 1996. "They woke me up at six in the morning with a search warrant," Rosenthal said. "There I was: naked, sleepy and under arrest." Rosenthal -- co-author of "Marijuana Law; Don't Get Busted," about what to do if police show up -- heeded his own advice. "I didn't tell the cops a thing," he said, with an impish grin. "But I was polite and cooperative. I gave them the key to my greenhouse so they wouldn't knock down the door. Hey, it worked -- they didn't trash my house." POPULAR TARGET To marijuana advocates, Rosenthal has become a cause celebre, the biggest and best-known target of the Drug Enforcement Administration. "If they take down Ed Rosenthal, that means they can get anybody," said Steve Kubby, who co-authored "Why Marijuana Should Be Legal" with Rosenthal and was the 1998 Libertarian Party candidate for California governor. "This is obviously an attack on a movement. They want to silence Ed." In person, Rosenthal looks more like a middle-aged elf than a drug lord. His conversations move easily from the types of highs produced by cannabis indica to teaching methods at his children's high schools. "I always wanted to be a radical," said Rosenthal, who has a son in an Ivy League college and a daughter at an exclusive local private school. "But I've gotten so middle class it's disgusting." Rosenthal, whose column receives 300 e-mail questions a month, is successful. Besides his writing, his publishing company, Quick Trading, is branching out beyond cannabis and hemp books. His home, on an East Oakland cul-de-sac, is a shrine to gardening. He raises a wide variety of plants -- roses, pumpkins, tomatoes and plumeria flowers. His 8-by-10-foot greenhouse is his "little Hawaii," where he experiments with varieties of pineapples and rare orchid strains. "The feds came looking for pot, but they found a lot of orchids," he said. "I just love plants -- even illegal ones." BOTANICAL ROOTS IN BRONX Born and raised in the Bronx, Rosenthal has had a lifelong interest in plants. As a boy, he took classes at the New York Botanical Gardens. After college, he worked a few years for a Wall Street stockbroker. But it was the 1960s and he grew restless. "If you were interested in plants and you grew up during hippie times, you sort of just gravitated to learning more about marijuana," he said. BICOASTAL INITIATIVE An original Yippie who helped found the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, Rosenthal moved to California in 1972 to help with an initiative campaign, defeated by voters, that would have legalized marijuana for personal use. He lived in San Francisco's Mission District and Berkeley before settling in Oakland almost 20 years ago. All these years, Rosenthal has managed to steer clear of legal trouble. But he has spent plenty of time in court -- as an expert witness in the trials of accused marijuana growers where he debunks government estimates about the value and volume of marijuana confiscations. His success often means less prison time for the grower. Federal agents consider pot-club operators and their suppliers to be just like any other pot dealers. Growing and distributing marijuana is against the law and Rosenthal violated that law, authorities say. "Our job is to target major traffickers," said DEA spokesman Richard Meyer. "We followed leads to them. We are not going to stop our investigation if it leads us to a marijuana club or a famous person or a politically connected person." DEA Director Asa Hutchinson has said pot has no proven medical value. According to the agency's Web site: "There are over 10,000 scientific studies that prove marijuana is a harmful addictive drug. There is not one reliable study that demonstrates marijuana has any medical value." MASTER'S IN MARIJUANA Rosenthal, who has not yet entered a plea, readily admits he grew marijuana in a converted West Oakland warehouse near the former Carnation Dairy. But he insists it was solely for medicinal purposes. "I've been studying every aspect of this for many years, but myself was not a grower," said Rosenthal, who became "obsessed" with the drug's medicinal possibilities in 1990 after writing several articles on AIDS patients smoking pot. "But I only decided to become a grower because the government is not doing enough research into medical uses." Using his extensive knowledge of marijuana strains, Rosenthal said he was "trying to develop varieties with different profiles so that people could taste and feel the difference. . . . We would have them try different types of marijuana and see which one helped their symptoms more." When describing his methodology, he sounds more like a professor than a pothead. "I found that certain cannabis sativa varieties are the best at stimulating the appetite of AIDS patients and cancer patients on chemotherapy. While some (cannabis) indica types seem to be best at reducing nausea and chronic pain." Supporters say his arrest was meant to quiet an outspoken and visible proponent of marijuana. But it may prove difficult to gag a man of so many words. "The government anti-drug policy is a big lie that is supported by a thousand other lies," Rosenthal said. "My crime is that I am willing to challenge those lies." ED ROSENTHAL: A well-known expert and author on growing marijuana, Rosenthal faces federal charges of cultivating plants for a San Francisco medicinal marijuana club. -- -- Age: 57 -- -- Occupation: Author and magazine columnist -- -- Achievements: Wrote or co-wrote more than a dozen books, including the "Marijuana Grower's Handbook," "Marijuana Medical Handbook: A Guide to Therapeutic Use," "Closet Cultivator," "The Big Book of Buds" and "Marijuana Beer: How to Make Your Own Hi-Brew Beer." -- -- Personal: Married, with two teenage children. -- -- Quote: "I'm just a writer who likes to give advice to gardeners. I really wish this didn't have to be a legal crusade." Note: DEA sees author as bad medicine. Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)Author: Jim Herron Zamora, Chronicle Staff WriterPublished: Monday, February 25, 2002 Copyright: 2002 San Francisco Chronicle  Page A - 1 Contact: letters sfchronicle.comWebsite: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/Related Articles & Web Site:High Timeshttp://www.hightimes.com/Cannabis Culturehttp://www.cannabisculture.com/DEA Raids Medical Marijuana Clubhttp://freedomtoexhale.com/raid.htmWar On Marijuana And Terminally Ill Continueshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread12090.shtmlFederal War Against The Sick http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread12015.shtml
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Comment #14 posted by Jose Melendez on February 26, 2002 at 13:46:26 PT:
Someone needs to shoot this guy? hmmm...
For best results, PLEASE use a video camera. As the DEA has been finding out more and more often, violence is counter-productive. 
Arrest Prohibition
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Comment #13 posted by FoM on February 26, 2002 at 12:26:43 PT
You're Welcome Dr. Russo
Thank you for all you are doing. You are a real Blessing.
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Comment #12 posted by Ethan Russo MD on February 26, 2002 at 12:15:25 PT:
Thanks, FoM
Thank you very much for posting the Chronic Use Study PDF. I would urge anyone who can to download this, read it, and distribute freely to news agencies, politicians, skeptics, interested people, relatives, acquaintances, or anyone whose opinion might need updating on clinical cannabis. 
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Comment #11 posted by FoM on February 26, 2002 at 11:44:39 PT
METRO In Brief: Medical Marijuana Advocates Buoyed
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Published: Tuesday, February 26, 2002; Page B03
Copyright: 2002 The Washington Post Company 
Contact: letterstoed washpost.com
Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com 
Advocates of marijuana for medical use in the District said they were buoyed by the questions a federal judge asked government attorneys yesterday, as a U.S. District Court hearing about the legality of a new ballot initiative on the subject evolved into a spirited discussion on home rule.
Judge Emmet G. Sullivan was hearing motions in the push to get the issue on the ballot in November. Four years ago, Congress blocked a nearly identical bill approved by city voters.
"Why does Congress want to inhibit citizens to speak or vote on this issue?" Sullivan asked from the bench. Justice Department attorney Amy Allen Ruggeri said Congress was the "ultimate legislature" of the District and that its regulations were legal. "I don't know if that's the way it should be, but that's the way it is," she told Sullivan.
MARYLAND 
Click on the link below and read Dr. Russo's Chronic Cannabis Use in PDF Format
Medical Marijuana Information Links
http://www.freedomtoexhale.com/medical.htm
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Comment #10 posted by DdC on February 25, 2002 at 20:53:55 PT
Cannabis Culture on Assa's D.E.A.th Wish!
Victory! We're in USA Today!The ads picturing John Walters as a parody of the Terrorist/Drug link advertisements the gov't ran during the Super Bowl and now on major networks will be in USA Today and the Washington Post!  Man is the s**t gonna hit the fan! We sure hope so. Thanks to all of you out there who helped reach this goal. It's time America was awakened to the truth instead of the propoganda spewed by the US Gov't.
CandyDEA implements US police state         
http://www.cannabisculture.com/articles/2281.html            
Ed http://www.cannabisculture.com/library/images/uploads/2281-Edros.jpg
http://boards.marihemp.com/boards/politics/media/39/39804.jpgD.E.A.th Deceptions
http://www.angelfire.com/ca7/ddc/DEAth.html
http://www.cannabinoid.com/boards/politics/media/39/39670.gifGeorge W. in the Garden of Gethsemane 
http://www.michaelmoore.com/2002_0129.html
Mike's New Book Stupid White Men
http://www.michaelmoore.com/images/Stupid_White_Cover_225.jpgBushit Cheneynagans D.E.A.th & Oil!
http://boards.marihemp.com/boards/message.shtml?1x39804
The Libertarian Party 
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Comment #9 posted by ekim on February 25, 2002 at 19:56:53 PT:
It use to be the left coast showed the way
Last night while watching one of the most moving reinactments of civll disobediance on the part of Rosa Parks, I could only think 48 years ago why has no great leader, or big shot basket ball player or base ball player or big shot singer or big shot movie star made the film. Who will make a film of say Robert Randel the first med.marijuana civll disobediance activest to receive marijuana from the Fed. Gov't. over 25 years ago. Where are all the big shots on the left coast that make films. Will it be 48 years for the story to be told. I hope not. mike
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Comment #8 posted by ANTCannabis2 on February 25, 2002 at 16:41:39 PT:
Biggest lie ever told
DEA Director Asa Hutchinson has said pot has no proven medical value. According to the agency's Web site: "There are over 10,000 scientific studies that prove marijuana is a harmful addictive drug. There is not one reliable study that demonstrates marijuana has any medical value." Unbelievable that they would ever make this claim. Cannabis has been used medicinally for thousands of years. Furthermore, no legit study has ever proven any harmful effects, let alone 10,000(!). In fact, If the DEA and Mr. Asa would look back to before 1937, the the U.S. Pharmacopoeia listed cannabis as the primary medicine for more than 100 separate illnesses, and diseases.
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Comment #7 posted by Patrick on February 25, 2002 at 15:51:50 PT
LIAR
DEA Director Asa Hutchinson has said pot has no proven medical value. According to the agency's Website: "There are over 10,000 scientific studies that prove marijuana is a harmful addictive drug. There is not one reliable study that demonstrates marijuana has any medical value."LIAR
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Comment #6 posted by idbsne1 on February 25, 2002 at 15:25:11 PT
...but they lie with such passion....
You see what I mean....'DEA Director Asa Hutchinson has said pot has no proven medical value. According to the agency's Web site: "There are over 10,000 scientific studies that prove marijuana is a harmful addictive drug. There is not one reliable study that demonstrates marijuana has any medical value."'Someone needs to shoot this guy.The Government LIES with such a fervor and passion that Americans take it as the Truth.MY God, THERE ISN'T EVEN 10,000 STUDIES PUBLISHED ON MARIJUANA?!?!!? Search the publications databases. Where do they get this bullshit? Hasn't someone asked for those 10,000 references?There was some news flash report on some Government medical/nursing-home web page saying that the Government was listing false information on the sites. Why can't someone do one on the DEA's webpage? There isn't ANYONE in the media that can call them out? NOONE? What about someone from SF? This is getting ridiculous....idbsne1 
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Comment #5 posted by Jose Melendez on February 25, 2002 at 12:53:17 PT:
sure.
"We are not going to stop our investigation if it leads us to a marijuana club or a famous person or a politically connected person." 
Anyone want to buy a few bridges?
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Comment #4 posted by goneposthole on February 25, 2002 at 10:41:21 PT
Ed Rosenthal 
He wants to stop the lying.Telling the truth is apparently a 'crime'.George Bush was praying for Chinese citizens who are being prosecuted for their religious beliefs.Human rights violations and persecutions, and all that kind of stuff.American citizens who suffer from terminal illnesses are paid short shrift. They haven't got a prayer...
especially from George Bush
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Comment #3 posted by E_Johnson on February 25, 2002 at 10:06:10 PT
Gag? -- That's what the New York Times is for
Supporters say his arrest was meant to quiet an outspoken and visible proponent of marijuana. But it may prove difficult to gag a man of so many words. The New York Times is having a very easy time of it. They just stick their self-righteous postmodern noses up in the air and pretend that he doesn't exist.This from the newspaper that managed to interview Boris Pasternak in 1960!!!!This is what the postmodern belief system has brought to journalism -- a complete and utter loss of any sense of shame over overtly biased rpeorting.Of course then the problem with this is that the NYT has become NOT the newspaper to read if you want to know what's actually happening in America.
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Comment #2 posted by E_Johnson on February 25, 2002 at 09:54:40 PT
But who believes the DEA?
DEA Director Asa Hutchinson has said pot has no proven medical value. According to the agency's Web site: "There are over 10,000 scientific studies that prove marijuana is a harmful addictive drug. There is not one reliable study that demonstrates marijuana has any medical value." a. I'm sure the Institute of Medicine and the Proceeedings of the National Academy of Sciences would like to know that they publish unreliable studies. This will surely endear them even further to the DEA.b. After the hemp ban, do they seriously believe they have one shred of public credibility left outside of Joyce Nalepka and the Family Research Council?I mean really, talk about people living on their own special planet.Hello, Earth to DEA, you've basically destroyed your public credibility with the hemp ban.And you can't really beat cancer care nurses and AIDS treatment professionals by calling them unreliable, because people live or die according to the care these professionals give.The DEA doesn't save lives. They only confiscate people and drugs. You're never going to hear a person say their life was saved or improved by anything any DEA agent did.Even addicts who go into treatment are going to credit their treatment professionals, not the DEA, with saving them from addiction.So who are people going to believe -- the nurse's organization in their state, or the DEA web site?After all, anybody can set up a web site and say whatever they want. Not everybody can take care of people with cancer.
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Comment #1 posted by E_Johnson on February 25, 2002 at 09:41:32 PT
They still can't get it right
After all this time, they still can't get the Supreme Court decision right.
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