Ed Rosenthal is a California horticulturist, author, publisher, and cannabis expert known for his advocacy for the legalization of marijuana use.
He co-founded and served as a columnist for High Times Magazine during the 80’s and 90’s. He writes the Ask Ed® column among other articles for Cannabis Culture, Skunk, Highlife and Soft Secrets among others. He is the owner and founder of Quick American Publishing in Northern California, which is changing marijuana laws one book at a time.
Quick American also publishes the yearly Big Book of Buds Calendar, the Big Book of Buds series, Marijuana Buds for Less, Cultivating Exceptional Cannabis, Closet Cultivator, Dank: The Quest for the Very Best Marijuana, Joint Rolling Handbook, Marijuana Garden Saver, and Marijuana Herbal cookbook among others.
In 1996, the state of California passed Proposition 215 in California, which legalized and regulated marijuana for medical use. Rosenthal was deputized by the city of Oakland to grow safe, medical-grade cannabis for local dispensaries to distribute to patients as an alternative to them buying their medicine through illegal, underground, unsafe, and unreliable sources.
He was arrested in 2002 for cultivation of cannabis by federal authorities, who at the time did not recognize the authority of individual states to regulate the use of medical marijuana. Federal prosecutors excluded evidence of his city deputization from the hearing. The jury found him guilty but the case is still on appeal.
