cannabisnews.com: Medical Marijuana Users Say Police Harassing Them Medical Marijuana Users Say Police Harassing Them Posted by CN Staff on July 11, 2002 at 19:50:37 PT By Rod Thompson Source: Star-Bulletin Three Kona residents say Big Island police are blocking them from legally using marijuana for medical purposes. Rhonda Robison, her husband, John, and their house guest Kealoha Wells were arrested Monday at their Kalaoa, North Kona, home for allegedly promoting a detrimental drug. Police seized 20 marijuana plants and 1.5 ounces of processed marijuana, Rhonda Robison said. John Robison and Wells have leukemia, and Rhonda Robison has a form of muscular dystrophy. They have permits to use marijuana under the state law that allows medical marijuana users to have seven plants each, plus one ounce of processed marijuana each, Robison said.Police told them there would have been no arrests if each person's supply had been separated from the others or if each plant was labeled with the owner's name, Robison said. The law does not require that, she said.The Robisons were arrested twice before, in March and November of last year. No charges were filed then or on Monday.Because police have seized their plants each time they start to mature, the couple has never grown usable plants, Robison said.In November, police seized John Robison's carpentry tools because they might have been used to construct a setup to grow marijuana, and seized the couple's computer because it might have contained evidence of marijuana sales, Robison said.The couple petitioned the Attorney General, and their property was returned about two weeks ago, Robison said.They think the return of their property incited police. "They weren't happy with that. This makes me honestly believe we're just targeted," she said.Kona Criminal Investigation Division Capt. Julian Shiroma denied that. "That was never our intent, and it is not our intent to seek retribution," he said."We responded to a report from a concerned citizen," Shiroma said. A search warrant was approved by a judge, he said.John Robison was diagnosed 10 years ago with acute lymphocytic leukemia, his wife said. Doctors consider it a miracle he is alive, she said.Wells was diagnosed with the same disease recently and just returned Friday from three weeks of radiation therapy, Rhonda Robison said.A 1974 study of tetrahydrocannabinol, the psychoactive substance in marijuana, showed it reduced tumors in three kinds of cancer, including virus-induced leukemia, she said.However, other research, including from the University of California-Los Angeles, indicates that marijuana smoke, which includes THC and about 400 other substances, may promote cancer.Still, John Robison attributes his long-term survival to marijuana use, his wife said.Rhonda Robison uses it to treat Charco-Marie-Tooth disease, a form of muscular dystrophy.When John Robison saw police outside the Robison house at 7 a.m. Monday, he said, "Here they come again to get us," Rhonda Robison said."You do understand we are medical marijuana users?" she asked police. They said the problem was not having plants individually labeled. Robison said she had prepared such labels but had not yet put them on the plants.Shiroma said the search was done after consulting with the county prosecutor and the state Narcotics Enforcement Division.State Public Safety head Ted Sakai, whose responsibilities include narcotics, said there is no requirement for separate storage or labeling of plants when more than one medical user lives in a house.The ultimate decision on searches and arrests lie with police, he said. The police action shows a gray area in the law that needs to be clarified, he added.During the search, Rhonda Robison said, one police officer threatened to hit the Robisons' dog with a piece of rebar. "I said, 'Look, we are cooperating,'" she said.Police then arrested them."We're not violent people," she said. "We're a very Christian-based family."Note: The Kona patients say officers block their legal use of the drug. Complete Title: Medical Marijuana Users Claim Police Harassing ThemSource: Honolulu Star-Bulletin (HI)Author: Rod ThompsonPublished: Thursday, July 11, 2002 Copyright: 2002 Honolulu Star-BulletinContact: letters starbulletin.comWebsite: http://www.starbulletin.com/CannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #4 posted by Lehder on July 12, 2002 at 20:11:47 PT 753 BC - 409 AD I wonder what it was like to live in Rome right before it collapsed. Rather better than in the US. Romans enjoyed great personal freedom; no one would have been arrested for possession of an herb.Rome prospered for 1162 years. The US will lose dominance within 20. [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by konagold on July 12, 2002 at 13:09:03 PT: police harassment please call and complain AlohaI was at the Robison's twelve hours prior to this raid and can give expert testimony that the plants in question were fewer than the number allowed by law and that there was only one mature plant far less that the 9 which would have been collectively allowed them by lawthis is the third time the Kona Gestapo has interfered with the Robison's legitimate access to vital medicine allowed by lawplease call Director of Narcotics Enforcement Agency Hawaii Department of Public Safety Keith Kimita at 808-594-0150 and his boss Director of the Department of Public Safety Ted Sakai 808-587-1288 to complain about this Nazi like treatment of the very illKealoha Wells is a brave and valiant cancer patient who, thanks to Cannabis, is doing very well combating the effects of a aggressive chemo and radiation therapy just having returned to Kona after three weeks of radsJohn Robison had the same type of cancer and at one time was only given 3 days to livethanks to Cannabis that was ten years agoa study titled The Antineoplastic activity of Cannabinoids published in 1974 detailed how Cannabis tho not a cure is a powerful inhibitor of cancer especially the type of leukemia both John and Kealoha have last year a study in Madrid demonstrated that Cannabinoids cured so called incurable brain cancer in lab animalsif Merck announced a product which was "the safest therapeutic substance known to man"; which extended the life of cancer patients by 36%; was effective in combating nausea; reduced tumors by 70%; also acted as a appetite stimulant for anorexia; was beneficial for individuals with muscle spasticity; that many patients would find more effective in combating pain than morphine, and which extended the pain relieving characteristics of opiate derived pain killers and prevented a increasing opiate tolerance and post treatment dependency; a product inhaled which in test would show that when used over a twenty year period it did not increase the rate of decline in pulmonary function, in fact it lowered the decline of tobacco smokers by 58%; --- then this announcement of Merck's would be shouted from the rooftops and touted as a miracle cure; Nobel and other prizes would be heaped upon Merck and the names of the individual inventors would be well known household to household around the worldyet when God gives exactly the above in the form of a Cannabis seed its benefactors are jailed by bullies with badges who beat up sick people http://www.thereligionofjesuschurch.org [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by Letsgetfree on July 12, 2002 at 09:37:53 PT WHAT THE FUCKING HELL!!! I'm sorry that this doesn't surpirse me at all, BUT I'M PISSED AS HELL ANYWAYS! How can anyone person have faith in the police or the WHOLE FUCKING SYSTEM, when this is the kinda shit they pull. I used to think we could win this fight, not just the WoSD, but the fight for the planet. We are losing. Now every forest fire, enviromently castatrophy, corporate scandal, political LIES, CNN broadcasts, T.V. in general, seeing an army of SUVs with 1 person in the them stuck in traffic jams.....all of it makes me happy now. I'm at the point where I think we need to let it all collapse and then start over. I wonder what it was like to live in Rome right before it collapsed. 1984 is now. The West is The Party, and the other 80% of the world are the proles. We in the Party are so hypnotized by Big Brother(nationalism, Bush, we good they bad) that we buy our lifestyles as moral, and believe we are not part of the problem, or if we are there's nothing we can do about it. FUCK THAT!The west deserves every last thing it gets. If your a family member of someone who was killed in Afganistan, you feel just as angry and bitter as someone whose family was killed in 9/11 or in Israil. Death is Death. But as we all know some deaths are more equal then others. [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by boppy on July 12, 2002 at 05:59:02 PT Slow day... It must be a slow crime period for the police on the big island. Let's go harrass the sick medical cannabis users. [ Post Comment ] Post Comment