Higher Ed's perspective

Ed Rosenthal has been the longest and strongest voice talking about how to grow marijuana over the past 30 years through his "Ask Ed" column in High Times and Cannabis Culture magazines. On top of that he has written and published more than a dozen books on the subject, with more than 2 million copies sold worldwide. What's he got to say for himself after decades of growing, writing and teaching about marijuana?

"It was a major mistake," says the self-named Guru of Ganja. "I write about marijuana a lot and people give me a lot of free marijuana. I should have been writing about gold and diamonds — I wouldn't have smoked up the take."

Rosenthal will bring that sense of humor, in addition to his enormous knowledge of growing, to Michigan this month when he teaches seminars June 23 in Traverse City and June 24 in Lansing. He teaches horticulture at Oaksterdamn University, a cannabis industry trade school in California, where his encyclopedic Marijuana Growers Handbook is a textbook.

He sees marijuana law as a crucial social issue and has served as an expert witness in a number of federal and state trials. In his book, Why Marijuana Should Be Legal, he discusses why pot is illegal and how to go about changing the law. The home page of his blog at edrosenthal.com is dedicated to legal issues and anti-drug war activism.

"I'm more impatient than ever with the laws and with the authorities and their attempts to thwart the will of the majority of the people," Rosenthal says. "I've come to the conclusion that it's a jobs issue for cops and for the whole criminal justice system. Spending on U.S. marijuana prohibition is $30 billion dollars a year [various estimates range from about $15 billion to $50 billion]. If prohibition ended, those dollars wouldn't be part of the equation. Another reason criminal justice doesn't want to give it up is because it puts so many people under their control and in fear of them; they don't want to give up the Prohibition model. The fight for medical marijuana and marijuana in general is a political fight. We're tired of the security state; we want our freedom." 

Rosenthal has literally had to fight for his freedom. In 2002, while growing marijuana legally under a medical marijuana distribution program authorized by the city of Oakland, Calif., he was busted by federal authorities. In the ensuing trial, the jury was not allowed to know that his marijuana growing was sanctioned by the city. He was found guilty, although several jurors denounced their verdict after they learned the true circumstances of Rosenthal's case. Although Rosenthal was only sentenced to one day's time already served, he appealed the conviction and in 2006 the appeals court overturned it. However, the judge ruled that Rosenthal could be retried but with no additional sentence. In 2007, he was found guilty of conspiracy, cultivation and using a commercial site for growing and distributing marijuana. 

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