NORML TAKES KEYS RETREAT

Group Embraces Decriminalizing Marijuana Laws

The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws is not
your typical organization and its legal tutorials are not part of
your typical seminar.

But then again, Key West is not your typical city.

NORML, a lobbying organization that advocates legalizing the
responsible use of marijuana, is holding its 24th annual legal
seminar at the Pier House Resort and Caribbean Spa in Key West next week.

"Key West has been enjoyed as a place that values personal freedom,"
Keith Stroup said.

Stroup founded the organization in 1970 and currently acts as legal
counsel for the group.

"Key West embraces different lifestyles, and we thought it was a
pretty good fit for NORML," he said.

It is a fairly accurate statement, considering the history Key West
has with marijuana.

Smuggling the illegal drug was a sizeable industry in the Keys from
the 1960s and throughout the 1980s until the smugglers apparently
came to the realization the dangers outweighed the rewards.

Since that time, Key West has seen numerous ventures involving the
sale and consumption of marijuana.

Throughout the 1990s, several people ran medical-marijuana
distribution centers within the city, though many of the quietly run
clubs found themselves shut down by federal agents for their
still-illegal operations.

According to the NORML news archive, one such Key West closure
occurred when a medical-marijuana club founder Zvi Baranoff faced
felony drug charges in 1997.

Prosecutors dropped the charges after then-Circuit Court Judge
Richard Payne acknowledged that marijuana sales could be called a
"medical necessity," and legal analysts claimed the find was groundbreaking.

By holding conferences to examine the latest legal efforts toward
marijuana reform laws like the upcoming one in Key West, NORML hopes
to see more such victories.

"We want to decriminalize marijuana use so long as you're using it in
a responsible manner," Stroup said. "There should be a way to
establish a legal market that is safe and secure. There are lots of
problems that result from an underground or black market" for marijuana.

According to Stroup, there are around 781,000 arrests on a marijuana
charges every year, 88 percent of which for simple possession.

NORML's Key West legal seminar brings down close to 130 lawyers, most
of whom have expertise in criminal defense, from across the country.
Those who attend earn continuing-education credits, required by most states.

"By coming to NORML's seminar in Key West, they will get the same
number of credits as they would for going to a bar-association
conference, but it's also a vacation," Stroup said.

Those attending will hear lectures on important cases over the past
year, suppressing evidence, defending against malicious prosecution
and wrongful imprisonment.

The seminar takes place from Thursday to Dec. 2.