KFOG Interview With Ed Rosenthal – February 5, 2003

I’ve also got MP3s of this all ready to go, but my archive.org account is hosed for the moment, so I have to wait until it’s late enough in the morning for me to give them a call. (Like 9:00 am maybe? 🙂 Then I’ll have that stuff uploaded for you pronto. (Hopefully by noon.) Luckily, I transcribed the whole thing last night already:
All fixed! Here are the MP3s:
Ed Rosenthal On KFOG (Hi-Res – MP3 – 5 MB)
Ed Rosenthal On KFOG (Lo-Res – MP3 – 3 MB)
Here’s a transcript:
Dave Mori: It’s 7:52 on KFOG. We’ve got the guy himself, Ed
Rosenthal. Thanks for coming on this morning.
KFOG (Dave Mori and two or three others also asking questions):
Now, Ed, I guess the good news is that the New York Times
yesterday came out with an editorial in support of you, several
supporters came out yesterday to join you in the city. The bad
news is you face a long prison term right now.
Ed: That’s right, I’m facing up to 20 years in prison.
KFOG: How do you…I mean…Do you feel you’re going to end
up actually having to serve time?
Ed: I don’t think I’ll serve one day, because I think that I will
be found “not guilty” and that the Medical Marijuana laws will
be coming down. (Lisa’s note: not sure if I
missed something in the second half of that last sentence…)

KFOG: What happens now? I mean, aren’t you currently found
“guilty?”
Ed: I was found “guilty,” but now we’re appealing for a new
trial on both legal and factual issues.
KFOG: Let me ask you, going into this, we’re you and your side
aware of the fact that the Feds were gonna pull this — not
allowing the issue of Medical Marijuana to be addressed within
the trial?
Ed: We weren’t aware of it, but it wasn’t the Feds. It was the
Judge’s decision not to allow us to have a defense and we feel
that that was anerror on the Judge’s part. We think the Ninth
Circuit will overturn his decisions.
KFOG: Who is this Judge? What’s his track record like?
Ed: He is an unusual Judge the way he handles the courtroom
and criminal procedures. Usually a Judge lets the two sides
fight it out, but this Judge intercedes a lot, asks his own
questions and tries to dominate the trial. That’s Judge Breyer.
KFOG: As this appeal progresses, do you think you’ll be hurt
by the fact that you’re not only a medical marijuana grower,
but have, over the years, been an advocate for the legalization
of Marijuana just…big picture, on the whole.
Ed: Up to now, I think that’s really helped me because I’ve
had some recognition and people realize that I didn’t do it
out of a profiteering point of view but I was able to use
lend my expertise to help people who needed some help
in getting started providing their own medicine.
KFOG: Might your case become a poster child for states’ rights
and that the Federal Government is gonna have to look closer
at what states vote into law?
Ed: I hope so.
KFOG: Can you see this thing going all the way to the Supreme
Court?
Ed: It might have that kind of legs. Although, there were so
many errors that the Judge and the Prosecutor made that this
case might just be dimissed.
KFOG: You’re out on half a million dollars bail? Is that correct?
Ed: It’s at half a million dollars bail with a $200,000 bond.
KFOG: How did you get that kind of money, if you don’t
mind me asking…
Ed: I mortgaged my house.
KFOG: There’s also that website, right?
Ed: Yes, it’s
http://www.green-aid.com,
and that tells everything about the trial, what’s going on, other
trials in California and elsewhere and it has all kinds of information
about what people can do.
KFOG: You’ve got a wife and kids. I mean, what do they
make of all of this?
Ed: They’re very supportive. They agree with me that what
I did was right. We have no regrets about what they did
because we feel, as a family, we were helping people.
KFOG: Thank you very much. We appreciate your time.
That’s for sure. Please keep in touch.
Ed: Great. Thank you very much.
KFOG: Take care.

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