REPORTER: Nick Lazaredes
To these amateur horticulturalists, Ed Rosenthal is a hero. He's an international expert on cannabis and for almost 30 years he's been an outspoken advocate for the decriminalisation of his favourite plant.
ED ROSENTHAL: In 1966 I became acquainted with marijuana and I decided to try to grow some and I became enchanted with this plant. Within a few years I had written my first book.
As a prolific publisher of marijuana literature, Rosenthal's cult status has been firmly established. Since the mid '70s, Ed has published a monthly marijuana gardening column in the 'High Times' and 'Cannabis Culture' magazines. From his house in Oakland, California, the man known as the guru of ganja still dispenses advice on how to grow marijuana to pot lovers around the world.
ED ROSENTHAL: Once they are set up, or purchased, hydroponic gardens are as easy to take care of as soil gardens. Buy a high quality planting mix that is designed for fast-growing, indoor plants.
Despite his prominent role in an illegal subculture, Rosenthal never had any problems with the law until early last year. Ironically, it was only after his home state of California decriminalised marijuana that he found himself facing 20 years jail. In 1996, after a statewide referendum, California voters approved proposition 215 - legalising the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes.
Nearly eight years later, buying marijuana in California is as easy as a trip to the pharmacy. In fact, the outlets selling marijuana to patients are called dispensaries and only those with a membership card validated by a doctor can enter. But this is no open shopfront. These days, filming is only allowed so long as patients aren't identified. Inside, there's a menu with a variety of cannabis clippings to take home and smoke. California's bold initiative angered conservatives from the start.
REPUBLICAN: People are going to try and capitalise on this and there will be a rise in stoned, drugged behaviour.
But it was only after George W. Bush ascended to the White House, and appointed his ultra-conservative Attorney-General John Ashcroft, that an all-out war was declared on California's drug reforms.
PRESIDENT GEORGE BUSH: You will be faithful to the law, pursuing justice without favour.
Leading the charge was the Drug Enforcement Administration, known as the DEA.
RICHARD MEYER, DRUG ENFORCEMENT ADMINISTRATION: This has been debated in court and it went all the way to the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court ruled that there is no medical exception for marijuana. So proposition 215 is in direct conflict with federal law.
ED ROSENTHAL: Yes, this famous marijuana guru is forced to forage for his supper.
Despite the federal government's rejection of California's progressive law, authorities in the city of Oakland, just across the bay from San Francisco, designed a system to shield medical marijuana growers from prosecution. Growers were appointed as special officers who worked under the city's health and safety regulations, and were therefore exempt from federal law and protected from prosecution.
ED ROSENTHAL: And they designated three people to be city officers. I was one of the three people. And so I started producing starter plants so that patients could grow their own marijuana.
These days, Ed won't allow himself to be filmed anywhere near a marijuana plant. But in the late '90s, with the full legal backing of Oakland's city authorities, he went into production. It was a discreet, non-profit activity, and the recipients of the cannabis starter plants were all registered patients, many of them suffering from terminal illnesses.
ED ROSENTHAL: I have a wife, I have two kids, I wasn't looking for a problem and I wasn't looking to create a problem by doing something illegal. I was under the impression and was told that what I was doing was legal.
But the fact that it was legal wasn't enough to stop Ed Rosenthal making it to the top of the federal government's medical marijuana hit list.
ED ROSENTHAL: It was 6:00 in the morning, there was a tremendous, thundering knocking on the door - beyond knocking - and I ran down to see what was going on and I was greeted by the police. And it was the DEA, the IRS and the FBI.
Led by the DEA, federal authorities charged Ed Rosenthal with cultivating and conspiracy to supply marijuana.
VIRGINIA RESNER, GREEN AID: No-one in their right mind who appreciates and understands the American constitution would say that Ed Rosenthal got a fair day in court.
Virginia Resner launched a campaign to raise money for Ed Rosenthal's legal defence. She believes his prosecution was politically motivated.
VIRGINIA RESNER: His is a political trial and it seems that the federal government has chosen to identify and to prosecute those individuals that have maintained some type of leadership identity within the marijuana movement over the last 20 years.
When Ed turned up for his first day at court, crowds of his supporters gathered to demonstrate against his prosecution. As the trial unfolded, they found they had a lot more to protest. The federal judge refused to allow the jury to hear of Ed's official capacity as an officer of Oakland City, or of local and state laws allowing the production and use of medical marijuana. In essence, the defence was denied the opportunity to present a case.
ED ROSENTHAL: I don't blame it on the prosecutor, you know, the prosecutor tries to win his case but the judge here, when he came into the - first came into the case, he had an agenda and his agenda was to get me convicted and he didn't care what laws he had to twist or bend in order to do that.
The jury members were also becoming concerned.
MARNEY CRAIG, JUROR-ROSENTHAL TRIAL: The defence was not only - were they never allowed to present a case at the end after five days of prosecution testimony...
Marney Craig was one of those on the jury.
MARNEY CRAIG: And then as it turned out, the trial was not fair and impartial and we were still under oath to render a fair verdict, which, because of the way the trial was conducted, became impossible, because we were only given half the evidence.
WOMAN PROTESTER: Cannabis takes the pain away from Multiple Sclerosis. Save the children.
As the trial wound up, the demonstrations outside the court continued. But hopes that the jury would acquit Ed Rosenthal were soon dashed.
MARNEY CRAIG: Even though so many of us were feeling so uneasy about what we were doing in the deliberations and in finding him guilty and convicting him, because it just didn't feel right, none of us did anything to stop it. We did exactly what they wanted us to do and we convicted him on all three counts.
The Rosenthal family was shattered. Outside San Francisco's federal court, Ed and his family expressed their anger at the verdict.
ED ROSENTHAL: I'd like to say that this was a real disappointment and the jury was a good jury but I feel they just didn't get all the information because of the restrictions that the court placed upon us.
DAUGHTER:I can't lose my father for doing the right thing. It can't happen.
But the Rosenthals weren't the only ones feeling frustrated. Just inside the court entrance, another drama was playing out with the recently released jury who were approached by one of Ed's supporters.
MARNEY CRAIG: She said, "Please to talk to me, I am not a lawyer." And we stopped and turned around and talked to her and she said, "Do you know who Ed Rosenthal is and do you know what you just did?" And she proceeded to tell us and it was devastating, absolutely devastating. I was sick about it and so were the rest of us. I was just so upset. My husband was so upset with me that he just took off and didn't come home for several hours because he was afraid of what he would say to me. And I went home and I was physically feeling desperate. I thought, "How could I, me, the kind of person that I am, the beliefs that I have, the things that I believe in, how could I have done this? How could I have convicted this man?" This is the worst mistake I've ever made in my life and I honestly believe it.
Marney Craig wasn't the only juror who felt this way. In a move unprecedented in US legal history, more than half the jury in the Rosenthal case publicly retracted their verdict and apologised to the man they had convicted.
MARNEY CRAIG: I would like to issue a public apology to Ed Rosenthal and his family, to the defence team, to the California voters and to the medical marijuana patients, thousands of them who, as a result of what we did, will now find it much more difficult to get what they need to survive.
The jury's revolt sent a shock wave through the US federal court system, with judge Charles Breyer copping criticism from other jurists and legal experts for the way he'd conducted the trial. Remarkably, on the day Ed Rosenthal was to be sentenced, most of the jury turned up at court.
MARNEY CRAIG: The defence team and the other advocates and the medical marijuana patients and the other people in the courtroom cleared the first row for us, so when Judge Breyer walked into the courtroom the first thing he saw was half his jurors sitting there.
The effect of this unique protest by the jury is unclear, but despite facing at least 20 years in a federal prison, Judge Charles Breyer sentenced him to just one day in jail for time he'd already served after his arrest. But Ed's not out of the woods yet. The federal authorities think his sentence was far too lenient. They're appealing in the hope he'll still be sent to jail.
RICHARD MEYER: About a month ago he was sentenced to one day in jail. The Department of Justice is planning, or has taken the steps to appeal that sentence. The poster says: Richard Meyer and the DEA repent or burn in hell. And on the back it's signed by Mr Ed Rosenthal himself.
Richard Meyer has no time for those who supported Ed Rosenthal. He is convinced California's lax marijuana law was created as a cover for drug dealers.
RICHARD MEYER: It is our belief that proposition 215 was a smokescreen for the drug lobby. The proponents of proposition 215, the real agenda is to make all drugs legal.
MAN: Not only is Mr Rosenthal the world's foremost expert on hemp gardening, but he has recently emerged as the most outspoken proponent on medicinal marijuana patient's rights, commonly referred to as the guru of ganja. Ladies and gentlemen, Mr Ed Rosenthal.
In a San Francisco cafe, Ed Rosenthal speaks to his supporters.
ED ROSENTHAL: It's really good to be here rather than somewhere else.
He thinks the federal government's determination to nail him will backfire, attracting more sympathy for his cause.
ED ROSENTHAL: And I've been reflecting today on what happened to me in the past year and a half, since I was arrested in February of 2002, and in a lot of ways, I'm really lucky because this trial was treated as a political trial and I was treated in a way, as a political prisoner.
This government thought that I was some little butterfly up there that they were just going to put in their little net and display as a trophy. Instead, they netted a hornet's nest.
If Ed loses his forthcoming appeal, he still faces 20 years in a federal prison. But he's convinced that regardless of the legal outcome, America's drug laws will have to change.
To these amateur horticulturalists, Ed Rosenthal is a hero. He's an international expert on cannabis and for almost 30 years he's been an outspoken advocate for the decriminalisation of his favourite plant.
ED ROSENTHAL: In 1966 I became acquainted with marijuana and I decided to try to grow some and I became enchanted with this plant. Within a few years I had written my first book.
As a prolific publisher of marijuana literature, Rosenthal's cult status has been firmly established. Since the mid '70s, Ed has published a monthly marijuana gardening column in the 'High Times' and 'Cannabis Culture' magazines. From his house in Oakland, California, the man known as the guru of ganja still dispenses advice on how to grow marijuana to pot lovers around the world.
ED ROSENTHAL: Once they are set up, or purchased, hydroponic gardens are as easy to take care of as soil gardens. Buy a high quality planting mix that is designed for fast-growing, indoor plants.
Despite his prominent role in an illegal subculture, Rosenthal never had any problems with the law until early last year. Ironically, it was only after his home state of California decriminalised marijuana that he found himself facing 20 years jail. In 1996, after a statewide referendum, California voters approved proposition 215 - legalising the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes.
Nearly eight years later, buying marijuana in California is as easy as a trip to the pharmacy. In fact, the outlets selling marijuana to patients are called dispensaries and only those with a membership card validated by a doctor can enter. But this is no open shopfront. These days, filming is only allowed so long as patients aren't identified. Inside, there's a menu with a variety of cannabis clippings to take home and smoke. California's bold initiative angered conservatives from the start.
REPUBLICAN: People are going to try and capitalise on this and there will be a rise in stoned, drugged behaviour.
But it was only after George W. Bush ascended to the White House, and appointed his ultra-conservative Attorney-General John Ashcroft, that an all-out war was declared on California's drug reforms.
PRESIDENT GEORGE BUSH: You will be faithful to the law, pursuing justice without favour.
Leading the charge was the Drug Enforcement Administration, known as the DEA.
RICHARD MEYER, DRUG ENFORCEMENT ADMINISTRATION: This has been debated in court and it went all the way to the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court ruled that there is no medical exception for marijuana. So proposition 215 is in direct conflict with federal law.
ED ROSENTHAL: Yes, this famous marijuana guru is forced to forage for his supper.
Despite the federal government's rejection of California's progressive law, authorities in the city of Oakland, just across the bay from San Francisco, designed a system to shield medical marijuana growers from prosecution. Growers were appointed as special officers who worked under the city's health and safety regulations, and were therefore exempt from federal law and protected from prosecution.
ED ROSENTHAL: And they designated three people to be city officers. I was one of the three people. And so I started producing starter plants so that patients could grow their own marijuana.
These days, Ed won't allow himself to be filmed anywhere near a marijuana plant. But in the late '90s, with the full legal backing of Oakland's city authorities, he went into production. It was a discreet, non-profit activity, and the recipients of the cannabis starter plants were all registered patients, many of them suffering from terminal illnesses.
ED ROSENTHAL: I have a wife, I have two kids, I wasn't looking for a problem and I wasn't looking to create a problem by doing something illegal. I was under the impression and was told that what I was doing was legal.
But the fact that it was legal wasn't enough to stop Ed Rosenthal making it to the top of the federal government's medical marijuana hit list.
ED ROSENTHAL: It was 6:00 in the morning, there was a tremendous, thundering knocking on the door - beyond knocking - and I ran down to see what was going on and I was greeted by the police. And it was the DEA, the IRS and the FBI.
Led by the DEA, federal authorities charged Ed Rosenthal with cultivating and conspiracy to supply marijuana.
VIRGINIA RESNER, GREEN AID: No-one in their right mind who appreciates and understands the American constitution would say that Ed Rosenthal got a fair day in court.
Virginia Resner launched a campaign to raise money for Ed Rosenthal's legal defence. She believes his prosecution was politically motivated.
VIRGINIA RESNER: His is a political trial and it seems that the federal government has chosen to identify and to prosecute those individuals that have maintained some type of leadership identity within the marijuana movement over the last 20 years.
When Ed turned up for his first day at court, crowds of his supporters gathered to demonstrate against his prosecution. As the trial unfolded, they found they had a lot more to protest. The federal judge refused to allow the jury to hear of Ed's official capacity as an officer of Oakland City, or of local and state laws allowing the production and use of medical marijuana. In essence, the defence was denied the opportunity to present a case.
ED ROSENTHAL: I don't blame it on the prosecutor, you know, the prosecutor tries to win his case but the judge here, when he came into the - first came into the case, he had an agenda and his agenda was to get me convicted and he didn't care what laws he had to twist or bend in order to do that.
The jury members were also becoming concerned.
MARNEY CRAIG, JUROR-ROSENTHAL TRIAL: The defence was not only - were they never allowed to present a case at the end after five days of prosecution testimony...
Marney Craig was one of those on the jury.
MARNEY CRAIG: And then as it turned out, the trial was not fair and impartial and we were still under oath to render a fair verdict, which, because of the way the trial was conducted, became impossible, because we were only given half the evidence.
WOMAN PROTESTER: Cannabis takes the pain away from Multiple Sclerosis. Save the children.
As the trial wound up, the demonstrations outside the court continued. But hopes that the jury would acquit Ed Rosenthal were soon dashed.
MARNEY CRAIG: Even though so many of us were feeling so uneasy about what we were doing in the deliberations and in finding him guilty and convicting him, because it just didn't feel right, none of us did anything to stop it. We did exactly what they wanted us to do and we convicted him on all three counts.
The Rosenthal family was shattered. Outside San Francisco's federal court, Ed and his family expressed their anger at the verdict.
ED ROSENTHAL: I'd like to say that this was a real disappointment and the jury was a good jury but I feel they just didn't get all the information because of the restrictions that the court placed upon us.
DAUGHTER:I can't lose my father for doing the right thing. It can't happen.
But the Rosenthals weren't the only ones feeling frustrated. Just inside the court entrance, another drama was playing out with the recently released jury who were approached by one of Ed's supporters.
MARNEY CRAIG: She said, "Please to talk to me, I am not a lawyer." And we stopped and turned around and talked to her and she said, "Do you know who Ed Rosenthal is and do you know what you just did?" And she proceeded to tell us and it was devastating, absolutely devastating. I was sick about it and so were the rest of us. I was just so upset. My husband was so upset with me that he just took off and didn't come home for several hours because he was afraid of what he would say to me. And I went home and I was physically feeling desperate. I thought, "How could I, me, the kind of person that I am, the beliefs that I have, the things that I believe in, how could I have done this? How could I have convicted this man?" This is the worst mistake I've ever made in my life and I honestly believe it.
Marney Craig wasn't the only juror who felt this way. In a move unprecedented in US legal history, more than half the jury in the Rosenthal case publicly retracted their verdict and apologised to the man they had convicted.
MARNEY CRAIG: I would like to issue a public apology to Ed Rosenthal and his family, to the defence team, to the California voters and to the medical marijuana patients, thousands of them who, as a result of what we did, will now find it much more difficult to get what they need to survive.
The jury's revolt sent a shock wave through the US federal court system, with judge Charles Breyer copping criticism from other jurists and legal experts for the way he'd conducted the trial. Remarkably, on the day Ed Rosenthal was to be sentenced, most of the jury turned up at court.
MARNEY CRAIG: The defence team and the other advocates and the medical marijuana patients and the other people in the courtroom cleared the first row for us, so when Judge Breyer walked into the courtroom the first thing he saw was half his jurors sitting there.
The effect of this unique protest by the jury is unclear, but despite facing at least 20 years in a federal prison, Judge Charles Breyer sentenced him to just one day in jail for time he'd already served after his arrest. But Ed's not out of the woods yet. The federal authorities think his sentence was far too lenient. They're appealing in the hope he'll still be sent to jail.
RICHARD MEYER: About a month ago he was sentenced to one day in jail. The Department of Justice is planning, or has taken the steps to appeal that sentence. The poster says: Richard Meyer and the DEA repent or burn in hell. And on the back it's signed by Mr Ed Rosenthal himself.
Richard Meyer has no time for those who supported Ed Rosenthal. He is convinced California's lax marijuana law was created as a cover for drug dealers.
RICHARD MEYER: It is our belief that proposition 215 was a smokescreen for the drug lobby. The proponents of proposition 215, the real agenda is to make all drugs legal.
MAN: Not only is Mr Rosenthal the world's foremost expert on hemp gardening, but he has recently emerged as the most outspoken proponent on medicinal marijuana patient's rights, commonly referred to as the guru of ganja. Ladies and gentlemen, Mr Ed Rosenthal.
In a San Francisco cafe, Ed Rosenthal speaks to his supporters.
ED ROSENTHAL: It's really good to be here rather than somewhere else.
He thinks the federal government's determination to nail him will backfire, attracting more sympathy for his cause.
ED ROSENTHAL: And I've been reflecting today on what happened to me in the past year and a half, since I was arrested in February of 2002, and in a lot of ways, I'm really lucky because this trial was treated as a political trial and I was treated in a way, as a political prisoner.
This government thought that I was some little butterfly up there that they were just going to put in their little net and display as a trophy. Instead, they netted a hornet's nest.
If Ed loses his forthcoming appeal, he still faces 20 years in a federal prison. But he's convinced that regardless of the legal outcome, America's drug laws will have to change.