cannabisnews.com: Federal Persecution





Federal Persecution
Posted by CN Staff on May 30, 2003 at 21:31:03 PT
Editorial
Source: New York Times 
Ed Rosenthal, a medical marijuana advocate, is to be sentenced next 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. A federal judge may now be on the verge of compounding the wrong by sentencing Mr. Rosenthal to prison.Growing marijuana for medical use is legal under the California Compassionate Use Act, passed by the voters in 1996, and Mr. Rosenthal was authorized by the city of Oakland to grow medical marijuana. 
But federal law does not distinguish between growing medical marijuana and run-of-the-mill drug cultivation. At Mr. Rosenthal's trial, Judge Charles Breyer prohibited the jury from hearing a medical-marijuana defense.When the jurors learned the facts after the trial, they were dismayed. Nine of the 12 wrote to the judge, saying they had convicted Mr. Rosenthal "without having all the evidence." They asked the judge not to sentence the defendant to prison. California's attorney general, Bill Lockyer, has urged the judge to take account of the Compassionate Use Act and to impose the minimum sentence under federal sentencing guidelines.Mr. Rosenthal could receive up to 60 years in prison. The prosecutor has asked for five years, and the federal Probation Department has recommended 21 months. But Mr. Rosenthal should not receive any prison time at all. It is a waste of law enforcement resources to prosecute and incarcerate medical marijuana cultivators. And it is particularly wrong to do so in a state, like California, that has expressly made it legal, after a trial in which the jurors were not told the full story.There is considerable political pressure on federal judges now not to deviate from federal sentencing guidelines. But this is a case in which judicial independence is needed. Judge Breyer should not sentence Mr. Rosenthal to prison.Source: New York Times (NY)Published: May 31, 2003Copyright: 2003 The New York Times CompanyContact: letters nytimes.com Website: http://www.nytimes.com/Related Articles & Web Site:Ed Rosenthal's Pictures & Articleshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/trialpics.htmMedical Marijuana Ruling Ignores State, Local http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16450.shtml5 Years Sought for Pot Grower http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16442.shtmlGanja Guru -- If Only Truth Could Set Him Freehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16354.shtml 
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Comment #6 posted by FoM on June 02, 2003 at 22:16:53 PT
NYT: Casualties of the Marijuana War - 4 Letters
To the Editor:Re "The U.S. Bucks a Trend on Marijuana Laws," by Eric Schlosser (Week in Review, June 1):The irrationality of the escalating "war on marijuana" is obvious when one considers Attorney General John Ashcroft's demand for full enforcement of the laws against medical marijuana in states where it is legal. Our government's efforts to interfere with Canadian attempts to decriminalize pot are no less outrageous. The "war on marijuana" is a multibillion-dollar operation that defines cultural, class and political differences. It has a disproportionate impact on poor, minority communities and undermines the credibility of our criminal justice system.The people most interested in maintaining our current marijuana laws (besides the attorney general and other hard-liners) are those who reap huge profits selling it on the black market.  MICHAEL J. GORMAN
Whitestone, Queens, June 1, 2003
The writer is a retired New York Police Department lieutenant and a lawyer.• 
To the Editor:"The U.S. Bucks a Trend on Marijuana Laws" (Week in Review, June 1) notes that our government is actively enforcing marijuana laws. This enforcement presumably follows from the goal stated by the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy: "to protect Americans from dangerous threats."The obvious threat from marijuana is that children will lose mental facility and health because of the inhalation of toxins. Given the stated goal, the administration should support fiscally troubled schools and should aid, rather than hinder, the efforts of the Environmental Protection Agency to protect our environment. 
 
THOMAS DAVIDOFF
Berkeley, Calif., June 1, 2003• 
To the Editor:In "Federal Persecution" (editorial, May 31), you call for fair play and justice in the sentencing of Ed Rosenthal, a medical marijuana advocate, in California. I agree. The draconian harshness of our drug laws results in too many miscarriages of justice. It is a cruel irony that this country is among the world's leaders in the incarceration of its citizens.I do question, however, the phrasing of your conclusion: "There is considerable political pressure on federal judges now not to deviate from federal sentencing guidelines." Political pressure brought by whom?WILLIAM J. KELLY JR.
Stockholm, N.J., May 31, 2003• 
To the Editor:A May 31 editorial recommends that Ed Rosenthal, who was convicted by a federal jury in California of growing marijuana, not receive any prison time.But marijuana has been banned by federal law since 1937. Several states have passed so-called medical marijuana laws that allow desperately ill patients to grow, distribute and possess small quantities of the drug. The "approved" indications have often been expanded to include people with relatively common conditions for which many other F.D.A.-approved drugs are available. The point in the Rosenthal case is not the drug but the law itself. State laws allowing medical marijuana are in direct conflict with Article VI of the United States Constitution, which states that federal law "shall be the supreme law of the land." In reaching its verdict, the Rosenthal jury properly considered the evidence presented at trial that Mr. Rosenthal committed the crimes as charged. To introduce California's law and its facially unconstitutional provisions would have been improper and irrelevant, since the law itself was not at issue. 
 JOHN J. COLEMAN
Clifton, Va., May 31, 2003
The writer is a retired assistant administrator of the United States Drug Enforcement Administration.Published: June 03, 2003Copyright: 2003 New York Timeshttp://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/03/opinion/L03MARI.html
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Comment #5 posted by freedom fighter on June 01, 2003 at 19:26:10 PT
And just when NYT
got tarnished with the affair of reporters not doing their jobs properly.. I do'nt know the value of these articles. Who knows!paceff
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Comment #4 posted by kaptinemo on May 31, 2003 at 18:09:15 PT:
And to think the NYT was once home
to arch-prohibitionist and McCaffrey's buddy Abe Rosenthal.My, how things change when they clear out the dead wood!
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Comment #3 posted by ekim on May 31, 2003 at 07:40:34 PT
Sun 12et 9pt Noam Chomsky
Live 3 hour interview with callins. C-span Ch 350 Dir. TV.
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Comment #2 posted by phil_debowl on May 31, 2003 at 03:24:45 PT
WOW
It's really hard to believe this came from the new york times! That rules!
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Comment #1 posted by FoM on May 30, 2003 at 21:39:43 PT
Thank You New York Times
I appreciate two quality articles in one day.
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