We are very saddened tonight by the news of the conviction of author and medical marijuana activist Ed Rosenthal in San Francisco. He will be sentenced Tuesday to a mandatory minimum ten year sentence. The maximum sentence is life.

Please visit Green-Aid for the details of the case and trial.

Hopefully this will be the galvinizing case for the need to reform our marijuana laws. The media coverage of the trial, prior to the jury's decision, has been nothing less than sympathetic to Ed and the need for a functional marijuana policy. From the above-linked AP article:

The verdicts were a victory in the federal government's battle against California's 1996 voter-approved medical marijuana law. Rosenthal's arrest last year was among a string of Drug Enforcement Administration raids on medical marijuana suppliers in California.

Under strict orders from U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer, Rosenthal was never able to tell the jury that he was growing marijuana as "an officer" for the city of Oakland's medical marijuana program.

Oakland's program and others throughout California were authorized under Proposition 215. Eight other states also allow the sick and dying to smoke or grow marijuana with a doctor's recommendation.

But federal authorities do not recognize those laws.

"There is no such thing as medical marijuana," said Richard Meyer, a DEA spokesman. "We're Americans first, Californians second."

Jury foreman Charles Sackett III said outside court that jurors were following federal law in finding Rosenthal guilty, but he personally hoped the verdict would be overturned.

"We had no legal wiggle room," Sackett said.

Our thoughts are with Ed and his family tonight. Ed remains free until his sentencing on Tuesday. See our prior post here.