"Guru of Ganja" (Ed Rosenthal) convicted of marijuana cultivation

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 01/31/03 | DAVID KRAVETS

[philman_36]

Man! Did this ever just get interesting!
California Cannabis Clubs Organize to Fight Feds
Snip...The importance of resolving community concerns became clear after the February DEA raid in San Francisco when it was revealed that accusations of trafficking by a city clergy member, had helped the DEA obtain search warrants. The complaint was brought by the Reverend Father Nazarin, who says he the presiding bishop of a breakaway faction of the Iraqi-based Assyrian-Chaldean Catholic Church. Nazarin was associated with another San Francisco cannabis club – the St. Martin de Porres Chapel which he considered a department of his church. According to a DEA affidavit, Nazarin wrote a letter to the agency alleging that some of the medical marijuana dispensaries were "owned and operated by greedy, professional drug dealers who hide behind the shield of Proposition 215."

[philman_36]

Jury finds marijuana activist guilty
Rosenthal said he’s anything but a drug dealer, noting that the plants agents seized didn’t have buds, the part of the plant normally smoked for a high. He planned to give out cuttings to seriously ill people.

Potshot
Rosenthal, who was deputized by Oakland officials to cultivate cannabis in accordance with California's Compassionate Use Act (Proposition 215), is on trial this week in U.S. District Court on federal drug charges. A victory for prosecutors could signal the beginning of the end for the state's landmark medical marijuana statute. Across the state, 50 medical cannabis clubs distribute pot to patients who are permitted to cultivate, possess, and consume the drug with a doctor's recommendation.

[philman_36]

Check out #361!

[philman_36]

Source?
Do you desire a third, or fourth, source?

[philman_36]

Why don't your replies show up on your screen? It stops at your...
#18: How The West Wasn't Won (NASA spoof) ^
To: Howlin
18 posted on 02/02/2003 0:34 AM CST by Roscoe

[philman_36]

Never mind, mine don't either for some reason.

[Roscoe]

He planned to give out cuttings to seriously ill people.

After he got their checks?

Rosenthal, who was deputized by Oakland officials to cultivate cannabis in accordance with California's Compassionate Use Act (Proposition 215)

The act contains no provision with which he or the city of Oakland were acting in "accordance" with.

SECTION 1. Section 11362.5 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to read:
    11362.5. (a) This section shall be known and may be cited as the Compassionate Use Act of 1996.
   (b)(1) The people of the State of California hereby find and declare that the purposes of the Compassionate Use Act of 1996 are as follows:
   (A) To ensure that seriously ill Californians have the right to obtain and use marijuana for medical purposes where that medical use is deemed appropriate and has been recommended by a physician who has determined that the person's health would benefit from the use of marijuana in the treatment of cancer, anorexia, AIDS, chronic pain, spasticity, glaucoma, arthritis, migraine, or any other illness for which marijuana provides relief.
   (B) To ensure that patients and their primary caregivers who obtain and use marijuana for medical purposes upon the recommendation of a physician are not subject to criminal prosecution or sanction.
   (C) To encourage the federal and state governments to implement a plan to provide for the safe and affordable distribution of marijuana to all patients in medical need of marijuana.
   (2) Nothing in this section shall be construed to supersede legislation prohibiting persons from engaging in conduct that endangers others, nor to condone the diversion of marijuana for nonmedical purposes.
   (c) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no physician in this state shall be punished, or denied any right or privilege, for having recommended marijuana to a patient for medical purposes.
   (d) Section 11357, relating to the possession of marijuana, and Section 11358, relating to the cultivation of marijuana, shall not apply to a patient, or to a patient's primary caregiver, who possesses or cultivates marijuana for the personal medical purposes of the patient upon the written or oral recommendation or approval of a physician.
   (e) For the purposes of this section, ''primary caregiver" means the individual designated by the person exempted under this section who has consistently assumed responsibility for the housing, health, or safety of that person.

SEC. 2. If any provision of this measure or the application thereof to any person or circumstance is held invalid, that invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications of the measure that can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to this end the provisions of this measure are severable.

[Roscoe]

We're in the backroom with this thread. You didn't know?

[CWOJackson]

LOL!

The backroom, where all good libertarian threads go to florish.

[philman_36]

After he got their checks?
Did he get any checks and orders from the patients? Do you even know?
I like answering questions with questions. You've taught me well.
What do you think of that Iraqi "preacher" in 361?

[philman_36]

Oh good, you can answer #320 since you're back!

[philman_36]

I do now, but I don't see why the replies wouldn't show up.

[philman_36]

Not only has Oakland's city government adopted a set of revolutionary new guidelines which tell police officers how they should interpret and enforce marijuana laws in light of Prop 215, it has also moved to protect Oakland's Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative (OCBC) by designating its personnel as "officers of the city."
I've got all kinds of hits regarding Oakland's guidelines, but I haven't found a site with it yet.
The most compelling thing I've got so far is this...SAMM Garden Guide (and the Text of Oakland guidelines link doesn't function)
CALIFORNIA COUNTIES MEDICAL MARIJUANA GUIDELINES
Proposition 215 Enforcement Guidelines
There are presently no official state guidelines as to how many plants police or DAs must allow to legal medical marijuana patients. The Attorney General has given local authorities discretion in this regard. The state's policy is outlined in a letter by Attorney General Lockyer to local law enforcement authorities.
Local governments cannot override Proposition 215, which specifically permits patients to possess and cultivate as much marijuana as is necessary for their own personal medical needs. However, local sheriffs and police CAN legally arrest, and district attorneys can prosecute, ANY patients whom they feel are exceeding personal use quantities.
The plant number and quantity guidelines listed below have been set by law enforcement officials in various localities around the state. Patients who exceed these guidelines risk arrest and prosecution by local authorities, even though they may well be acquitted by court.
Legal patients have been acquitted for 100 plants or more on occasion, after successfully convincing the court that they were for personal use. However, others have been convicted for far smaller amounts where the court felt that they were not for legitimate medical use.

[philman_36]

Care to address your..."discrepency"?

[DAnconia55]

Yes, we're all aware that LIKE HILLARY you believe in a flexible Constitution - one that allows for interpretation of the Commerce clause to give you the power to do anything your little heart desires. That merely makes you and the judges who ruled so wrong, and out of place on a forum dedicated to restoration of Constitutional principles.

[philman_36]

DEA ATTACKS MEDICAL CANNABIS IN CALIFORNIA
The raids, which were orchestrated without knowledge of local authorities, relied heavily on information from confidential informants. One DEA agent made use of a recommendation from Dr. Stephen Ellis, a well-known San Francisco cannabis specialist, to penetrate the club scene. Two key sources were paid DEA informants with long criminal records. Also figuring as an informant was the formerly trusted patron of a local medical marijuana club, "Father Nazarin" (a.k.a. Bashir Ahmed). A purported priest of an obscure Eastern Catholic sect from Baghdad, Nazarin styled himself as the "abbot" of the St. Martin de Porres Chapel dispensary on Divisadero St. Nazarin wrote a letter to the DEA charging that rival clubs had been taken over by "greedy professional drug dealers," and seeking an agreement whereby DEA might let him continue operations. The managers of the Divisadero St. club expressed shock at Nazarin's action and indignantly severed relations with him, re-organizing as the San Francisco Patients' Cooperative.

From Potshot above...Nazarin, who says his given name is Bashir Ahmed, was himself arrested in November by San Francisco police who were skeptical of his claim that the 250 marijuana plants at his house were being grown for a medical marijuana patient.

[Cultural Jihad]

Well, by 'simple possession and use,' of course I was aiming for the 28.5 gram threshhold, which covers probably 95% of all sales or gifts.

[jmc813]

You must be a big fan of the Milosevic tribunals.

[jmc813]

Just imagine how much more effective Shaquille O'Neal would be if the refs would allow him to cold-cock anyone driving to the backet.

You obviously did not see the NBA Finals last year.

[jmc813]

WOD Ping