Medical marijuana activist visits UO
Author Ed Rosenthal detailed
his felony convictions and
ongoing activism against
the government on Friday
Peter Sur
Freelance Reporter
Almost one hundred people — in
cluding aging hippies, college stu
dents, nursing moms and bearded
activists — congregated in Colum
bia Hall on Friday to listen to Ed
Rosenthal, a prominent figure in the
medical marijuana use movement.
Rosenthal, 58, a former colum
nist for High Times magazine and
the author of more than a dozen
books on marijuana, is considered
one of the worlds leading experts on
the subject.
He spoke to the crowd of roughly
90 people about his unusual battle
with the federal government to grow
marijuana for medical purposes.
Rosenthal’s case, which has attract
ed nationwide attention, stands at
the center of a debate about
whether marijuana should be out
lawed completely or whether it
should be used to treat long-suffer
ing patients.
“The marijuana laws are going to
be changed,” he said. “We’re going
to take this case and help move the
marijuana laws with this case until
those marijuana laws come down
like the Berlin Wall.”
In 1996, California voters ap
proved Proposition 215, also known
as the Compassionate Use Act,
which allowed seriously ill patients
suffering from cancer, anorexia,
AIDS, glaucoma and other illnesses
to use marijuana as recommended
by a physician.
Rosenthal said the city of Oak
land, Calif., authorized him to
grow marijuana plants for med
ical patients. Believing he was
immune from prosecution, he set
up a warehouse in Oakland,
where he grew hundreds of young
marijuana plants. However, the
federal government arrested him
in February 2002 for cultivation
of marijuana.
Speaking earlier at a press confer
ence at the Federal Building, Rosen
thal said District Judge Charles
Breyer denied him a fair trial be
cause he was prevented from telling
the jury about his intent to use mar
ijuana for medical purposes. He said
he was an officer of the city and
should not be prosecuted.
Rosenthal said he was convicted
in January on three felony counts:
conspiracy to manufacture marijua
na, manufacturing marijuana and
maintaining a place for manufactur
ing marijuana. The first two convic
tions each carry a maximum sen
tence of 40 years, and the third
count has a maximum sentence of
20 years. Rosenthal will be sen
tenced June 4.
Four days after returning a ver
dict, five jurors convened a press
conference to apologize to Rosen
thal. Juror Marney Craig called the
conviction “the most horrible mis
take I have ever made.”
Before his speech, Rosenthal
showed a video of a “Dateline NBC”
segment that ran on Feb. 21, which
featured Rosenthal and eight jurors
who supported him. When John
Walters, director of the Office of Na
tional Drug Control Policy, ap
peared on the screen, audience
members hissed and swore.
Rosenthal said he was arrested
because the federal government was
“looking for a trophy conviction,
and (the government was) looking
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Danielle Hickey Emerald
Author and medical marijuana activist Ed Rosenthal spoke in Columbia 150 on Friday to a crowd of nearly 100 people about his
battle with the federal government to grow marijuana for medical purposes.
to intimidate the marijuana dispen
saries in the Bay Area.”
He also lambasted U.S. District
Attorney George Bevan, who prose
cuted his case.
“Here’s a fellow who doesn’t care
whether they get their medicine or
not,” he said. “In fact he doesn’t
want people to get their medicine.
He doesn’t care about their quality
of life, he doesn’t care about their
health, he doesn’t care whether peo
ple live or die. What do you call a
person like that?”
Other speakers at the event in
eluded Sharon Clay, a patient and
25-year marijuana advocate who
read a list she called “The 10 most
wrong things that happened to me
because of the drug war.”
“I am a victim of this war and I’m
losing my passion to do other
things, and I find that very unfair,”
Clay said.
Voter Power, a Portland-based
medical marijuana advocacy group,
organized Rosenthal’s four-day tour
of Oregon, which also included ap
pearances in Ashland, Roseburg
and Portland.
Voter Power director John Sajo
defended the medical benefits of
marijuana, saying it has been useful
for relieving nausea and pain for
some people and reducing the
spasms caused by multiple sclerosis
and similar diseases.
“We have almost 5,000 patients
in Oregon that are using marijua
na,” he said. “There hasn’t been a
single case of an adverse health con
sequence to one of those patients.
Peter Sur is a freelance writer
for the Emerald.
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(541) 346-1156
UNIVERSITY OF OREGON
IS 4
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