In a brief but pivotal resentencing hearing in federal court last week, Judge Martin Jenkins ordered Alden to turn himself over to federal authorities on July 25th and continue serving his original 44-month sentence.

According to Common Sense Law, the entity offering the reward, the famous Wickard v. Filburn case, relied on by federal prosecutors and judges to claim jurisdiction for the Controlled Substance Act under the interstate commerce clause, actually says quite the opposite.

As I write this column the United States Supreme Court is deliberating on the fate of over 32 individuals directly and many millions more by extension. I will dedicate my next column to my opinion of the legal aspects of the case and it's meaning within the overall debate on the use of marijuana as a medicine but for now I want to just introduce a few more facts.

A pending U.S. Supreme Court decision on medical marijuana patients and their caregivers could have far-ranging consequences for cannabis activists slapped with federal drug charges – and those wishing to limit the power of the federal government.

Citing an Oakland case's precedent, a federal magistrate in San Francisco refused Monday to order drug testing for a Sonoma County man who has been freed from federal prison camp to appeal his medical marijuana conviction.

For the first time, a federal judge just said “no” today to drug testing for a medical marijuana patient recently released from federal prison camp.

Tragic! Keith's is the second federal conviction since the Supreme Court ruling against medical necessity defense. Here in California, we are in a state of crisis that requires a national escalation in getting out the word to potential jurors, judges, cops that it is unacceptable to arrest & imprison patients for growing their medicine. Keep tuned for the next national action day, & meanwhile we hope you will form an affinity group to do civil disobedience, write op-eds, letters to editors, pass local resolutions, find allies, and initiate your own actions!

After about 5 hours deliberation on Friday and 6 hours today, a jury in the Federal District Court in San Francisco found Keith Alden, who is a valid California medical marijuana patient, guilty of cultivation of marijuana and for maintaining a site for cultivation of marijuana.