cannabisnews.com: Big Isle Questions Medical Pot Raids





Big Isle Questions Medical Pot Raids
Posted by CN Staff on August 15, 2002 at 21:09:00 PT
By Rod Thompson
Source: Star-Bulletin 
Angered by police raids on medical marijuana users, some Hawaii County Council members strongly urged acting Police Chief Lawrence Mahuna this week to refocus drug enforcement on crystal methamphetamine."What I see is a paramilitary force outside of civilian control," Councilman Curtis Tyler told Mahuna, who became acting chief after the retirement of Chief James Correa last week. "Get real," Tyler demanded Tuesday during a Council committee meeting.
"People are dying from methamphetamine," he said.Referring to a recent incident in which police operating from a helicopter destroyed three marijuana plants belonging to a medical marijuana user in Puna, Tyler said: "Let's try to protect our community instead of rappelling out of helicopters. This is outrageous what's going on in this community.""I hope you will say no one will ever encroach on anyone's constitutional rights," Tyler said.A subdued Mahuna, who is normally soft-spoken anyway, answered that police are "bound" to protect constitutional rights.Regarding new police rules that recognize the rights of registered medical marijuana users, Mahuna said: "We will comply with these rules and regulations as best we can. Each one of our officers will enforce the law with the proper perspective."Mahuna's comments followed testimony from Kona medical marijuana user Rhonda Robison, who played a videotape of her own arrest last month. On the tape, a vice officer informs her the marijuana supplies of the three medical users at her house are not legal because they are not "definitively separated," a version of the law which state Public Safety head Ted Sakai later said was not accurate.After seeing the tape, Mahuna said, "It was an eye-opener for me." Allegations of misconduct by officers in the raid are being investigated, he said.Robison said she lost her job in a law office because of the raid.Cancer patient Kealoha Wells, who lives with Robison and her husband, said she lost five pounds after the raid. With her marijuana supply confiscated by police, she could not eat because as soon as she did, she vomited, she said.Councilwoman Nancy Pisicchio said police should go after crystal methamphetamine, also known as ice, "the real problems that's killing people."Councilwomen Julie Jacobson and Bobbie Jean Leithead-Todd both called for more money to fight ice.Federal, state, and county officials will hold a "Methamphetamine Summit" on the island Aug. 27.An invitation letter to the event says ice arrests increased 431 percent on the island from 1997 to 2000.State Child Protective Services reports that it had to remove hundreds of children from their homes in recent years due to family problems with ice and other drugs, the letter says.A religious marijuana advocate, the Rev. Dennis Shields, cited a 1994 federally funded report by Patricia Morgan which found that the ice problem in Honolulu began after 1987, partly because marijuana enforcement made that substance scarce and almost as expensive as ice.Not all Council members joined Tyler's criticism of police. Councilman and former police Capt. Leningrad Elarionoff called Tyler "out of line."Note: Some Council members say the police should focus more on crystal meth.Source: Honolulu Star-Bulletin (HI)Author: Rod ThompsonPublished: Thursday, August 15, 2002 Copyright: 2002 Honolulu Star-BulletinContact: letters starbulletin.comWebsite: http://www.starbulletin.com/Related Articles & Web Site:Rev. Dennis Shields http://hialoha.com/konagold/church/Councilors View Video of Pot Arrests http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13749.shtmlAnti-Pot Efforts Boost Ice Use http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13543.shtmlLawsuits Filed in Two Big Island Cases http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13515.shtml
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Comment #5 posted by Industrial Strength on August 16, 2002 at 15:40:01 PT
B Green
Ice users also run alot faster. They can move awful quick! Like a marsupial. lol.
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Comment #4 posted by Sam Adams on August 16, 2002 at 06:40:09 PT
amateur politicians are good
It's interesting that the only time a politician speaks the truth is when they're an amateur like a city councilman. Like a tiny beam of light cutting through the fog, one can hear the actual words of common sense from these people.  The professionals are all human scum as far as I'm concerned.Why can't we question the police? Is there an amendment to the constitution that says "You must not diss the police in any way"??? In Nevada the media acts like Law Enforcement are the AUTHORITY on drug laws. Didn't they go to high school? All the kids that became cops in my school were the dumbest brutes in school that failed every class except "power tech" (where they worked on cars). We ARE in a police state.
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Comment #3 posted by kaptinemo on August 16, 2002 at 05:33:40 PT:
They still didn't get it...and they'll be back
I hope you will say no one will ever encroach on anyone's constitutional rights," Tyler said. A subdued Mahuna, who is normally soft-spoken anyway, answered that police are "bound" to protect constitutional rights.
Regarding new police rules that recognize the rights of registered medical marijuana users, Mahuna said: "We will comply with these rules and regulations as best we can. Each one of our officers will enforce the law with the proper perspective."The question is, of course, whose 'proper perspective'? The Fed's?This was not an apology. This was a dodge to leave the door wide open for further raids. Mahuna should have been cornered and simply told the limits of his jurisdiction regarding MMJ - and as in the same way that Mahuna and company would ask some cannabist being busted if he understood his Miranda rights - ask Mahuna if he understood those restrictions.Because the Feds egged them on in the beginning; they won't let up. Not until their cat's-paws, the local police who listened to their unique twisting of the law, get their cojones squeezed and their bums bruised from bouncing off a jail's concrete floor on the way into a cell.That will stop that nonsense right quick.
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Comment #2 posted by RevNick on August 15, 2002 at 23:53:04 PT:
Tyler For President
Here's the only politition I've ever met that puts the constitution at the forefront of his thoughts on all of our issues. He makes it a point to announce that he doesn't smoke it, never smoked it, never wants to...but he is damned sure that most if not all of the laws against it are unconstitutional. I spoke to some friends who attended this meeting (Rev. Roger Christie...)and they said he was truely heroic. Over and over he reffered to the Big Island police as a "paramilitary force outside of civilian control". Curtis Tyler is my hero.
The Hawaii Cannabis Ministry: We Use Cannabis Religiously, You Can Too
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Comment #1 posted by BGreen on August 15, 2002 at 22:05:17 PT
Translation
Not all Council members joined Tyler's criticism of police. Councilman and former police Capt. Leningrad Elarionoff called Tyler "out of line.""Hey, I resemble those remarks. That was ME out there, those were my buddies. Do you want us to go after the mean bad guys or the peaceful, non-violent cannabis growing bad guys? We could get hurt. And those ICE users and dealers don't have as many nice things to steal, um, I mean, seize."
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