Pubdate: Wed, 28 May 2003
Source: Ventura County Star (CA)
Copyright: 2003, The E.W. Scripps Co.
Contact:  http://www.staronline.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/479
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Cannabis - California)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Ed+Rosenthal

LOCKYER URGES LENIENCY FOR 'GURU OF GANJA'

California Attorney General Bill Lockyer urged a federal judge Tuesday to 
be lenient on self-described "Guru of Ganja" Ed Rosenthal who was convicted 
Jan. 31 of marijuana cultivation charges.

Rosenthal, 58, says he was growing medical marijuana under a 1996 law 
approved by California voters, and was deputized by the city of Oakland to 
carry out that task. U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer prohibited 
Rosenthal's federal jury from hearing any evidence of that sort, and 
Rosenthal was painted in the jury's eyes as a major drug supplier.

In a two-page letter submitted Tuesday, Lockyer asked Breyer, when he 
sentences Rosenthal June 4, "to consider the California Compassionate Use 
Act of 1996 ... which authorizes the possession or cultivation of marijuana 
for the personal medical purposes of the patient upon the written or oral 
recommendation or approval of a physician."
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager