MAN SENTENCED IN WEB POT SELLS

NEW ORLEANS -- A man who sold marijuana over the Internet to customers in
35 states was fined $200,000 Friday and sentenced to five months in a
halfway house and five months under house arrest.

Michael David Aronov, 48, of Anaheim, Calif., said he sold the marijuana
for medicinal use only. He was arrested after selling the drug to
undercover federal agents in Louisiana.

Prosecutors had asked for up to two years in prison. Aronov started taking
orders over the Internet in 1996, receiving payments by mail. Over the next
three years, he mailed 994 packages of marijuana to 149 customers,
receiving about $227,000 for more than 800 pounds of the drug, prosecutors
said.

He said he always demanded proof of why customers needed the marijuana and
turned down suspicious offers. "The only reason I did this was to help the
sick people who cannot get it," said Aronov, a plumber and inventor.
Federal drug agents learned of Aronov's company last year after a Louisiana
TV reporter contacted police about the Web site.

California law allows distribution of marijuana if a doctor advises that
the drug might help with conditions such as glaucoma, seizures or loss of
appetite from cancer treatments or AIDS.

Marijuana distribution is illegal in Louisiana.