'Guru of Ganja' indicted again

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A federal grand jury has again indicted the self-proclaimed "Guru of Ganja" on charges that he grew hundreds of marijuana plants for a dispensary.
Ed Rosenthal was convicted in 2003 for cultivating the plants for a city of Oakland medical marijuana program. An appeals court overturned the conviction in April, citing jury misconduct, but it upheld federal powers to charge marijuana growers.

From The Star Feb.5, 2006:
SAN FRANCISCO - Jurors who convicted a man of cultivating marijuana and other federal drug charges say they would have acquitted him had they been told he was growing it for medical purposes.
The jury was not told that Ed Rosenthal, 58, was acting as an agent of Oakland's medical marijuana program, an outgrowth of a 1996 medical marijuana initiative approved by California's voters that conflicts with federal law.

(Photo: Ed Rosenthal and Holy Hemptress celebrate his one-day jail sentence after the 2003 conviction. He faced 60 years.)

Hat tip to reader Bill from LEAP!