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." - --- MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager