Charges were dismissed against the proprietor and one member of a Key West club that distributed medical marijuana to seriously ill patients who possessed a physician’s recommendation. The motions were held at the Monroe County Courthouse and the entire process took only half an hour.
The Key West club, known locally as the Medical Cannabis Advocates of Key West (MCA), served approximately 90 patients and operated openly in an office directly across from the county courthouse and sheriff’s station for 14 months before being raided by Special Operations detectives this past August. Club owner Zvi Baranoff and member Jamie Levario, who is HIV positive, were charged with second-degree felony possession and distribution of marijuana.
NORML Legal Committee member Norman Kent, Esq. of Fort Lauderdale, represented the defendants and applauded the decision. “It’s hard to ask for much more,” he said. “From a personal standpoint, it’s a complete triumph.”
“The state is recognizing that marijuana is medicine,” explained Baranoff, who was given a six-month pre-trial intervention. “I’m really proud to help people get their medicine.”
Kent said Levario will now sue the federal government. “The next step is to make Jaime a plaintiff in a civil suit … to allow [him] the use of medicinal pot,” Kent explained. Kent was victorious in a similar suit in 1988 that affirmed glaucoma patient Elvy Musikka’s right to use marijuana as a medicine. Musikka was later accepted into a federal program that currently provides marijuana as a medicine to eight patients.
Joe Hart, current director of the MCA, told the Key West Citizen that the court ruling means the club is back in business. However, he said that the club intends to keep a lower profile than in the past.
For more information, please contact Attorney Norm Kent at (954) 763-1900 or Zvi Baranoff of the MCA at (305) 293-7067.