From: gts (gts_2000@yahoo.com)
Date: Thu Jun 05 2003 - 18:09:17 MDT
Passing this along, from a friend of mine involved in the War against the
War on Drugs. -gts
--- Dear Friend: As incredible as it may seem, U.S. District Court Judge Charles Breyer sentenced medical marijuana activist Ed Rosenthal to only one day in prison yesterday, allowing him to walk free because of credit for time already served. Back in January, an Oakland jury convicted Ed of growing more than 100 marijuana plants, which should have landed him in prison for a mandatory minimum of five years -- and possibly as many as 40 years. Ed grew marijuana for seriously ill people who are allowed to use it under California's medical marijuana law, doing so with the express authorization of the Oakland city government. But Judge Breyer prohibited Ed from presenting any evidence involving medical marijuana to the jury, which convicted him because they thought he was a large-scale marijuana distributor. When the jury learned that all medical marijuana facts had been withheld from them, a majority of jurors publicly repudiated their verdict and apologized to Rosenthal. When a jury publicly rejects its own verdict, and a federal judge subverts Congress' system of mandatory minimum sentences to let a marijuana grower go free, it is clear we have reached a turning point. Today marks the beginning of the end of the federal war on medical marijuana patients. There are three things you can do to help the Marijuana Policy Project use this victory to help change federal law: 1. Please visit http://www.mpp.org/USA to fax a pre-written letter to your three members of Congress, asking them to support legislation that would let other medical marijuana growers go free, just like Ed did yesterday. 2. Please forward this message to your family and friends and urge them to visit http://www.mpp.org/USA so that they, too, can add their voices to our cause. 3. If you are really motivated, please visit http://www.mpp.org/USA to grab a pre-written letter-to-the-editor about Ed's sentencing to submit as your own to your local newspapers. Now is the time to act. The "Truth in Trials" medical marijuana bill (H.R. 1717 -- http://www.mpp.org/USA/bills_690.html ) in Congress already has 34 sponsors, and we estimate we could have more than 50 sponsors almost immediately if you and MPP's other 31,000 e-mail subscribers use our Web system to fax letters to your members of Congress. In addition, a wave of faxes to Capitol Hill right now will strengthen our case that Congress should hold a first-ever hearing for medical marijuana legislation this summer. Medical marijuana patients and supporters marked Rosenthal's sentencing yesterday by protesting in front of the local district offices of 25 members of the U.S. House of Representatives who represent states with medical marijuana laws but who have not yet cosponsored H.R. 1717. The chief of staff for one of these House members called us yesterday afternoon, angry that MPP supporters were distributing flyers that said the representative "thinks that medical marijuana patients should be sent to federal prison" -- right outside of her congressional office. We told the chief of staff that the protests would end when her boss co-sponsors our legislation. Ed Rosenthal's sentencing and the wave of 25 protests generated national media coverage. A large story on page two of The Washington Post quoted MPP Director of Communications Bruce Mirken, who was also quoted in The New York Times. I was quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle, while Associated Press, Reuters, and Agence France-Presse wire stories about the verdict ran in newspapers all over the world. Please see http://www.mpp.org/USA for the news articles and to take action today. Thank you ... Sincerely, Rob Kampia Executive Director Marijuana Policy Project Washington, D.C. P.S. Please visit http://www.mpp.org/USA/donate.html to donate to our lobbying work on Capitol Hill.
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