page_title: Ed Rosenthal
section_title: Advocacy
hierarchical_section_title: Ed Rosenthal / Advocacy
caption_attribution_description: English: Snoop lighting a joint for Ed Rosenthal
context_page_description: Edward "Ed" Rosenthal is a California horticulturist, author, publisher, and Cannabis grower known for his advocacy for the legalization of marijuana use. He served as a columnist for High Times Magazine during the 1980s and 1990s. He was arrested in 2002 for cultivation of cannabis by federal authorities, who do not recognize the authority of states to regulate the use of medical marijuana. He was convicted in federal court, but the conviction was overturned on appeal. Rosenthal was subsequently convicted again, but was not re-sentenced, since his original sentence had been completed.
  Rosenthal has been active in promoting and developing policies of civil regulation for medicinal marijuana. With the passage of California's pioneering Proposition 215 in 1996, which authorizes medicinal use of marijuana, he worked with the state and local governments to implement the delivery of pharmaceutical-grade cannabis to patients with a doctor's recommendation to use marijuana.
  Rosenthal is also the author of numerous books about the cultivation of marijuana.
context_section_description: Rosenthal's public battles in the court have focused attention on the question of whether marijuana laws have become more harmful to society than the behavior they were intended to regulate. Recent polls show that as many as 80% of Americans support legal access to medical marijuana. The Federal Government does not recognize the legitimacy of medical marijuana initiatives passed by individual states, but as of 2017 under the Cole Memorandum, will not be enforcing federal laws against states that have legalized the recreational use such as California, Colorado, Oregon, Maine, Nevada, Massachusetts and Washington.
caption: Snoop Dogg lights a joint for Ed Rosenthal
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