man sentenced to one day in prison for use of medical marijuana

[per1sh]

http://www.lp.org/press/archive.php?...iew&record=645


Libertarians commend jurors, judge for one-day sentence in medipot case

WASHINGTON, DC -- A federal judge who handed down a one-day sentence to medical marijuana advocate Ed Rosenthal in California should be commended along with the jurors who pressured him to do so, Libertarians say.

"Judge Charles R. Breyer just gave every drug warrior in America a cold, hard slap in the face," said Ron Crickenberger, political director of the Libertarian Party. "If every judge displayed this much common sense, the government's war on sick and dying Americans could be over within weeks."

Breyer, a U.S. District judge in San Francisco, ignored federal prosecutors' recommendation for a five-year term and sentenced Rosenthal to one day in jail on Wednesday for growing 100 marijuana plants. Breyer also set Rosenthal free immediately, saying he had already served the time.

Because federal law prohibits medical marijuana, Breyer had refused during the trial to allow jurors to hear evidence that Rosenthal was raising the plants with the explicit approval of local health officials. Upon learning that after the trial, jurors publicly repudiated their guilty verdict and demanded that the judge spare Rosenthal from prison.

"Fortunately, Breyer eventually did the right thing," Crickenberger said. "But unfortunately, not every medical marijuana patient is as lucky as Ed Rosenthal.

"In California and the seven other states that have adopted medical marijuana laws, federal drug agents have raided and ransacked clinics and dragged suffering, terminally ill people off to jail," Crickenberger said.

"Federal judges routinely refuse to allow jurors to hear evidence about marijuana's medical benefits, or that medical marijuana is legal under their state laws. And many terminally ill AIDS and cancer patients are wasting away in prison, where they have been prevented from using their medication.

"The fact is that by continuing to enforce federal medical marijuana laws, the government is sentencing its own citizens to a slow-motion execution."

One of the most poignant examples is the case of Peter McWilliams, a bestselling author and Libertarian Party member who died in California on June 14, 2000 after being denied his medicine, Crickenberger pointed out.

"Peter had suffered from AIDS and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and had used medical marijuana to suppress the nausea caused by his other medications," he said. "While out on bail awaiting sentencing for his 'crime,' he was prohibited from using medical marijuana -- a decision that almost certainly led to his death. How is what the government did to Peter any different from premeditated, cold-blooded murder?"

Another example: Steve Kubby, former Libertarian candidate for California governor and a prime mover behind Prop 215, who uses medical marijuana to treat a rare form of adrenal cancer.

"Steve was arrested when police raided his Olympic Valley, California home in 1999, and was convicted in December 2000 of two minor drug possession charges. To avoid a jail term, he moved to Canada with his wife and two young daughters," Crickenberger said.

"Like so many others, Steve has been forced to choose between abandoning his country and dying a slow, painful death in prison."

Future tragedies like these could be avoided with help from more jurors who demand the truth and more judges who are willing to buck the system as Breyer did, Crickenberger said.

"The long-term solution is to elect enough Libertarians to Congress to repeal ludicrous laws that turn Americans into criminals for trying to save their own lives," he said. "But until that happens, let's encourage judges to give every medical marijuana patient in America the 'Ed Rosenthal' treatment."

[Element4040]

Judge Charles R. Breyer = True Patriot!

Ed Rosenthal = My Hero!

[Hubb]

Glad Ed didnt get canned
The pot law sucks..........
OOh wwell

[Element4040]

Originally posted by E-brake
The Judge is no Patriot, the Jury said that if they had been allowed to see all the evidence that the Judge blocked Rosentha would have never even been found guilty, while his one day sentence sounds great, he will have to live the rest of his life with a federal conviction thanks to Judge Breyer.

Well the Judge had to block the evidence. The evidence in question has to do with Medicinal Marijuana which is legal in California. Unfortunately it is still a Federal Crime to grow Marijuana no matter what the purpose. I think the Judge made the right decision here.