POT USE GOES TO VOTE OF PEOPLE

Measure Put on Ballot Despite Police, Corporation Counsel Protests

Voters will decide in November whether police should give marijuana
possession a lower priority than all other crimes.

To do so, the County Council had to disregard the county clerk's
determination that a petition drive fell more than 2,600 signatures
short of the required number, as well as protests by police, the
corporation counsel and dissenting lawmakers that they were creating bad law.

By a 5-4 vote, the council voted to overturn County Clerk Casey
Jarman's finding of insufficiency.

Councilmembers Brenda Ford, Bob Jacobson, Emily Naeole, K. Angel
Pilago and Dominic Yagong all voted in favor, while Stacy Higa, Pete
Hoffmann, Donald Ikeda and J Yoshimoto voted against it.

Ford, Naeole and Yagong initially voted "kanalua," deferring their
votes to the end. With the council tied 4-4, and Yagong the last to
vote, he paused for about 30 seconds before saying, "aye."

A few minutes later, the council unanimously voted down a bill
seeking the same result via the regular lawmaking process.

The "Project Peaceful Sky" initiative, if passed, requires that
cultivation, possession and adult personal use of marijuana be the
lowest law enforcement priority for Hawaii County.

The "Lowest Law Enforcement Priority" applies to cases involving less
than 24 plants or 24 ounces of dried marijuana. The initative also
forbids the County Council from accepting any money related to the
enforcement of marijuana laws.

Prior to the vote, 24 people from Hilo and Kailua-Kona gave public testimony.

The testimony was heavily in favor of putting the question to voters.

"I ask you to please support this resolution and put this on the
ballot," said Adam Lehmann, the chief organizer of the Project
Peaceful Sky ballot initiative.

"When I was on chemo," said Athena Peanut, "if not for medical
marijuana, I wouldn't have made it through."

Many of the speakers, like Peanut, asked the council to let the people decide.

Before the councilors began discussing the motion, Jarman that she
had submitted a certificate of insufficiency for the petition. When
Lehmann submitted the 4,954 signatures on June 23, less than half of
those signatures -- 2,214 -- were valid. This fell far short of the
4,848 valid signatures required.

Jacobson, undaunted, introduced a resolution to declare the petition
sufficient, and a bill to establish Project Peaceful Sky by the
regular ordinance method.

The lawmakers faced a Sept. 5 deadline to get the measure on the
ballot; that's why it was waived through a committee vote. However,
it hit a roadblock in Corporation Counsel Lincoln Ashida.

Ashida recommended in a letter dated Monday that the council not
approve the measure because the wording of the initiative itself may
be illegal.

Ashida wrote that any bill or initiative "seeking to direct the
Police and Prosecutors to manage their allocation of resources with
respect to law enforcement in a specific way violates the separation
of powers doctrine, and may even constitute an illegal usurpation of
the authority vested (in) our Police and Prosecutors via the Attorney General."

Ashida warned of a "sufficient likelihood" that should this measure
pass, the state attorney general could sue the Hawaii County Council,
and that this action could expose lawmakers to personal liability.

A former deputy prosecutor, Ashida added that he did not hold an
opinion on "the moral implications of such an initiative," and he
believed Lehmann's effort was well-intended.

Later in the meeting, pressed by Jacobson, Ashida said the
possibility of a lawsuit is "somewhat remote, but never say never."

In response to a question from Higa, Jarman responded that there was
no requirement in the Charter that a initiative brought before the
council be vetted for legality.

"He (Lehmann) was aware that there was a legal problem that would
keep it from going forward," Jarman said.

Despite the problems, Pilago said he would vote to put the bill on the ballot.

Yoshimoto, sitting to Pilago's right, disagreed.

"I'm going to have to follow the advice of our County Counsel," he
said. "This has nothing to do with our medical marijuana issue ...
I'll keep it short. I can't support it."

Police Maj. Sam Thomas, introduced by Higa, also spoke out against
the initiative.

"That would be pretty much in direct conflict. We are sworn to uphold
the law of the federal, state and county governments," he said.

"I, too, cannot support this resolution," Ikeda said after hearing
Thomas speak, adding that the inability of the petition organizers to
get half the required number of signatures indicated a problem with
the initiative itself.

"I really think this should go on the ballot so the people can make a
decision," Naeole said. "I see a lot of really good people; a lot of
their houses get taken away."

Hoffmann voted against the bill because of the language directing the
County Council not to accept any marijuana eradication funds.

Despite Yagong's affirmative vote, he earlier expressed concern that
while the initiative's language allows 24 marijuana plants, the state
only allows seven, and only with a medical marijuana license. Even if
this does pass, the county law would not circumvent state law, Ashida
told Yagong.

"It's a terrible quandry," he said.

After the bill passed, Lehmann said that Deputy Clerk Kenny Goodenow
found the initiative legally sufficient. Lehmann said the bill, as
written, would "definitely" be able to survive legal challenges.

"I just really encourage people to consider the issues and study the
facts because it has effected a lot of good changes in many other
places in our country in the recent past," Lehmann said.