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Editorial: High court has to clear the air on medical pot Daily Democrat, Woodland, Calif. June 11 U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer exercised fairness and compassion when merely tapping convicted marijuana grower Ed Rosenthal on the wrist with the lightest sentence possible under the law Wednesday. Judging by Rosenthal's gratuitous post-sentencing harangue against Breyer, though, one might have thought Rosenthal was being sent away to prison for life. Breyer, in fact, could have handed Rosenthal a 100-year sentence and a $4.5 million fine. Instead, the brother of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer sentenced the "Guru of Ganja" to one day in prison and fined him $1,000 for his January conviction for growing marijuana to be sold for medicinal purposes. ... Rosenthal had hoped the court would, under the Oakland ordinance, classify him as a city agent and thus gain him immunity. But Breyer wasn't buying that argument, ruling before the trial that Rosenthal would not qualify as narcotics law enforcement officer, a decision that legal experts say the law made an abundantly easy call. ... In his parking lot comments, Rosenthal suggested that the judicial system hadn't seen the last of his case, predicting that higher courts would find Breyer "dead wrong" on the immunity issue. As far as those observations go, we would agree with Rosenthal that his case, or at least one like it, will probably climb higher up the judicial ladder - all the way to the Supreme Court, that is. Ultimately, only the high court will be able to clear the air on an issue so dear to thousands of medically legitimate pot users. LINKS: DAILY TIDINGS: Main | News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Opinion | Columnists | AP News | Subscribe | Archives | Weather | Classifieds | Contact Us | Privacy REVELS: Main | Calendar | Dining | Movies | T.V. OTHER: Road Cams Copyright 2003 Ashland Daily Tidings 541.482.3456. 1661 Siskiyou Blvd., Ashland, OR 97520. Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. - Advertisers -