Mr. Lee, 

I am Mickey Martin, the person you wrote your "Wonka of Weed" article about. This is really a shameful piece of writing, as you have obviously done no work to report the truth and have continually just regurgitated stories of the past and obviously plagiarized the rest of the story to fill in the blanks. It would seem you have done a disservice to a large contingent of your readership by not investing any real time and energy, so that your story would more accurately portray the truth. You cannot even get my age right. I am currently 34. Yes. It has been a year since you wrote your infamously inaccurate story originally about my case. 

I even wrote you in March before my plea deal to see if you wanted to do an interview, but you carelessly reprinted more of the same irrelevant facts, biased opinion in reporting of truth, and misleading tone that underscores the community support that spared me from incarceration. Had you bothered to show up for the press conference prior, or even been in the courtroom, you would have seen a much different story than the one you sparsely reported. You would have seen a group of fifty activists and supporters stand in unity, as a Federal Judge stunned the community by inquiring about the legitimacy of State law in this case. You would have seen that the courtroom was in tears and stood in ovation, clapping for this small victory, at the end of the sentencing.

 You would have seen the great Tony Serra masterfully detail the efficacy of cannabis based medications and the importance of food-based medications in that process. You would have seen a moving presentation of the truth about medical cannabis laws. You would have seen a federal judge use reason and compassion in deriving her sentence for myself and a co-worker. You may have even had a good laugh, as my eccentric attorney explained my ownership of a bouncer business that does charitable deeds for children's organizations. You would have seen my lead attorney, Sara Zalkin, speak to the manner in which dealing with legislation regarding the medical cannabis is like, "banging our head against the wall." 

Yes. You could have seen a lot. Unfortunately you did not and when called upon to report about the case further you decided to use verbatim several paragraphs from your original articles and mixed in some lackluster ideas that were most likely picked from other reporters work. It is disingenuous and you should know better. I was the sports editor for the Laney Tower newspaper at Laney College in Oakland for a semester, and even I would know better. 

In the future if you decide to write any follow up articles, or similar articles about others involved in providing cannabis medications to the sick and dying in California, please do some real work and try to get the story accurate for once. Quit depending on overzealous reports from agents and officers, or at least balance your story by contacting Americans for Safe Access. Their number is 510-251-1856. Please use it, as they are a valuable resource and very media friendly. 

If you still want to contact me to do an interview I would be glad to educate you further on what is really going on in the world of medical cannabis. You may be surprised. My real advice to you is that if you are going to do something in this world, anything, even writing a story about cannabis medicines which may not be what you intended to do with your life, put your best foot forward and give it some real effort. There are many readers of your paper that would appreciate the truth.

 Kind Regards, 

Mickey Martin 

Tainted Compassion Director