WILL THE ROSENTHAL CASE DESTROY FEDERAL MEDICAL MARIJUANA ENFORCEMENT?

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From: "MAPNews" <owner-mapnews [at] mapinc.org>
To: <mapnews [at] mapinc.org>
Sent: Tuesday, February 11, 2003 12:22 AM
Subject: MN: US: Web: Will the Rosenthal Case Destroy Federal Medical


> Newshawk: Is Truth a Casualty of the Drug War? http://www.csdp.org/ads/
> Pubdate: Sun, 9 Feb 2003
> Source: AlterNet (US Web)
> Copyright: 2003 Independent Media Institute
> Contact: letters [at] alternet.org
> Website: http://www.alternet.org/
> Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1451
> Author: Kevin Zeese
> Cited: Coalition for Medical Marijuana http://www.medicalmj.org/
> Bookmarks: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Ed+Rosenthal
> http://www.mapinc.org/people/Bryan+Epis
>
> WILL THE ROSENTHAL CASE DESTROY FEDERAL MEDICAL MARIJUANA ENFORCEMENT?
>
> The disappointing verdict in the Ed Rosenthal case may end up doing
> more to ignite California voters than a hung jury would have done.
> Now, the media is reporting that jurors were not told all the truth, a
> majority of jurors are saying they felt used and that if they had
> known the whole truth they would have voted acquittal. One juror has
> described this as the greatest mistake of her life - one she will
> never forget.
>
> Throughout US history unjust verdicts have led to dramatic change.
> Indeed, the birth of the United States was sparked by a verdict in
> favor of the crown in Paxton's case challenging the warrantless
> searches by the King's soldiers of colonial homes and businesses. John
> Adams, who later became a leader in the revolution and the second
> president of the United States, was a young court reporter and at the
> time of the verdict he wrote, "Then and there, the child Independence
> was borne."
>
> For years the King's soldiers had been abusing the rights of the
> colonists, searching homes, unreasonably taxing them without any
> representation in Parliament, quartering soldiers in private homes -
> but there was no fervor for independence. A verdict in favor of the
> Crown on such a critical issue as arbitrary searches stoked the fire
> of independence a movement grew and a country was born.
>
> For years, the federal government has abused the rights of citizens
> when it came to enforcing drug laws. The medical marijuana issue has
> highlighted how extreme the drug warriors are willing to be. They are
> willing to allow the seriously ill suffer - even die - because they
> use marijuana a medicine they deem illegal.
>
> Ever since California passed Proposition 215 in 1996 the federal
> government has done its best to thwart the law and undermine the
> democratic vote. Civil and criminal actions have been taken against
> individuals, doctors have been threatened, and state legislators have
> been ignored. But, for the most part the people have not rebelled -
> they have not gotten angry - they have not put pressure on their
> elected representatives, especially their US senators - to take action.
>
> But now, the obvious kangaroo court that Mr. Rosenthal faced - a court
> proceeding where the grand jury indictment was manipulated, where
> jurors supportive of medical marijuana were weeded out, where critical
> evidence was kept from the jury and where jurors were told they could
> not vote their sense of justice - has sparked anger. The rules of
> federal marijuana trials allowed the federal government to describe
> someone serving as an agent of Oakland, in their effort to provide
> safe access to much-needed medicine for the seriously ill, as a major
> marijuana trafficker.
>
> The results - laws designed for drug kingpins like Pablo Escobar - are
> being applied to Good Samaritans trying to provide medicine to the
> ill.
>
> The attack on medical marijuana was initially an attack on democracy -
> undermining the peoples vote. Then, it became an attack on the
> seriously ill - threatening their doctors, their providers and denying
> them their medicine. Now, it is becoming an attack on the jury system
> - a bedrock of our justice system. Again, our second president, John
> Adams made the relevant point: "it is not only [the juror's] right but
> his duty to find the verdict according to his own best understanding,
> judgment, and conscience, though in direct opposition to the court."
> An independent jury is a check against unjust laws abusively enforced.
>
> The initial reaction to the Rosenthal verdict has been strong. The
> media reacted to the obvious injustice in the case - even the
> newspaper of record, The New York Times, denounced the trial, noting
> the long history of federal abuse on medical marijuana it concluded:
> "the administration should stop tyrannizing doctors and sick people .
> . . ."
>
> In addition, jurors are speaking out and the public is showing signs
> that it is aroused. During the Rosenthal trial a coalition of medical
> marijuana advocates started a billboard campaign that highlighted
> Ashley Epis, the 8-year-old daughter of Bryan Epis. Bryan is a
> marijuana martyr, railroaded in similar fashion as Rosenthal by a
> Sacramento federal judge. Bryan received a ten-year mandatory minimum
> sentence. The ad campaign made statewide, even national news.
>
> Since June 6, shortly after the arrest of Rosenthal and others, there
> have been over fifty arrests of people protesting at federal buildings
> against medical marijuana enforcement by the feds. Activists around
> the US have protested at fifty federal building simultaneously on
> several occasions. And, thousands have signed a pledge of resistance
> saying they will take action to oppose medical marijuana raids. See
> http://www.MedicalMJ.org for more information about the reform reaction to
> the federal onslaught.
>
> The ambers of a medical marijuana wildfire are beginning to burn more
> brightly with the Rosenthal verdict. The feds may have won the first
> round of the Ed Rosenthal battle but it may lead to them losing the
> war.
> __________________________________________________________________________
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> ---
> MAP posted-by: Richard Lake
>