MARIJUANA ADVOCATES WIN ROUND

Medical use claimed; charges are dropped

By MARIKA LYNCH
Herald Staff Writer

KEY WEST Harold "Zvi" Baranoff wasn't your typical drug dealer. His
clients were dying of AIDS.

So in court he wanted to use an unusual defense. And in a unique ruling,
a Monroe County judge was going to let him.

But Monday, Monroe prosecutors dropped Baranoff's case. The decision came
days after Monroe Circuit Judge Richard Payne said Baranoff could argue
his drug sales were a "medical necessity" for the ill.

Never before in Florida nor in the United States has a judge
accepted that defense, advocates for the medical use of marijuana say. And
they hope others can use it, though untried before a jury, in future
cases.

"It's a beginning of a sense that there is a time and a place to allow
certain individuals to distribute marijuana to seriously ill patients,"
said Robert Kampia, director of government relations for the Marijuana
Policy Project in Washington, D.C. "We ar e hoping to take this case and
show judges elsewhere who are trying to grapple with this issue."

Selling marijuana is against the law in Florida, be it for medical or
recreational use. Baranoff's lawyers argued that the 40yearold sales
clerk wasn't peddling for profit, but to help others.

"It's not a case of my client pocketing the proceeds and driving around
town in a Porsche. He drives a rusty bicycle and lives in a secondfloor
apartment," attorney Norm Kent said of Baranoff, who rides around Key West
on an oversized tricycle with a sig n advertising his legal case.

From the preliminary evidence presented, Payne said in court that he
agreed that Baranoff didn't have "criminal intent" in distributing drugs.
Therefore, he was going to allow the jury to hear the medical necessity
defense.

Dropping the case was part of a plea bargain on another charge Baranoff
faced in court. Both stem from a controversial Medical Cannabis Buyer's
Club, which sold marijuana for medical use out of an office across the
street from the Monroe County Courthouse . Baranoff founded the club
during the summer of 1995.

A year later, police raided the club and found 5 ounces of marijuana
packaged in quarterounce bags, more than 7 pounds of marijuana seeds and
half a case of rolling papers, according to an arrest report. Baranoff was
charged with drug possession and poss ession of drug paraphernalia all
of which were dropped Monday.

Once the club shut down, police arrested Baranoff after watching him set
up and deliver marijuana to an AIDS patient at home. For that, attorneys
agreed Monday, Baranoff will serve 18 months' probation.

Baranoff maintains he only sold to people with medical needs, though
prosecutors looking at evidence seized in the Cannabis Buyer's Club found
people applying for marijuana who were suffering from back pain. Some
ailments were verified with letters from m assage therapists.

And prosecutors were concerned that Baranoff was unilaterally deciding who
was to receive doses of the drug, said Rolando Castineyra, assistant state
attorney.

Though Baranoff says the cannabis club has been disbanded, he will
continue to fight for legislation to allow states to decide whether
patients should be able to use marijuana for medical purposes. He calls
Payne's ruling on the medical necessity defense a victory.

"It's on the public record so that others can use it to build their case,"
Baranoff said.