BIG ISLE PREACHER SPREADING GOSPEL OF MARIJUANA

Roger Christie -- make that the Rev. Roger Christie of the Hawai'i Cannabis
Ministry -- knows he could use his remote patch of land on the Big Island to
perform his first wedding ceremony with marijuana as a sacrament.

But Christie doesn't want marijuana for religious or medical reasons to be
hidden away, even in a beautiful corner of the Puna District such as Kehena
Beach. No, Christie wants his church services to draw a crowd. So he's
looking for just the right place in Hilo for his first wedding that includes
marijuana.

His friend and fellow marijuana advocate Jon Adler held a blessing yesterday
for a marijuana greenhouse on Adler's property in Puna. Adler's two-story
house serves double duty as the Hawai'i Medical Marijuana Institute and
Adler's Religion of Jesus Church, East Hawai'i Branch.

Adler sent invitations to 100 people, including 35 federal, state and county
officials -- from the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration in Hawai'i
to the Big Island Police Department's vice division.

Christie, 51, and Adler, 48, have long been known for pushing their
marijuana agendas on the Big Island. Last year, they tried to impeach the
mayor and six county council members on grounds that they had not conducted
a critical review of the county's marijuana eradication program.

Now, Christie and Adler are moving ahead with plans for marijuana-based
ministries, which they believe insulates them and their crops from
successful prosecution. The ministries, they say, mean patients can avoid
the delays that plague the implementation of Hawai'i's medical marijuana
law.

Doctors and patients on O'ahu have complained that marijuana for medical
reasons remains illegal despite the law signed by the governor in June,
because state officials have yet to put any procedures in place.

'Doctors Scared'

"Doctors are scared of marijuana," said Christie. "Cannabis as a sacrament
is the ideal way. Jesus had a healing ministry, and he bent the law of his
day. I have a healing ministry, and I push the law of my day."

Christie distributes what he calls a "cannabis sacrament kit," which
includes a statement that the person is a religious practitioner, and he
cites legal cases and Biblical passages. The kit includes tags for marijuana
plants declaring their medical and religious purposes.

Twelve people who had Christie's kit have been arrested in Hawai'i on
marijuana charges. None of them, including Christie, who was arrested in
1998, was prosecuted, he said.

"(The kit has) helped in cases where the handcuffs were being brought out or
had just been put on," Christie said. "When the paperwork is presented, the
arrest stops right there or the arrest continues, but there's never a
prosecution. We've had a 100 percent success rate."

Big Island police say marijuana remains illegal, even for medical reasons.
And around the country, no one has won a marijuana case arguing religious
freedoms, according to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana
Laws (NORMAL).

"I know individuals that are serving federal prison sentences who came forth
with articulate and clearly written tenets of what they view their First
Amendment religious rights to be," said Allen St. Pierre, executive director
of NORMAL in Washington, D.C.

With its vast stretches of land and ideal growing conditions, the Big Island
has long been the center of Hawai'i's marijuana trade and has been the focus
of a massive federal, state and local law enforcement crackdown for the past
24 years. With Christie and Adler openly pushing their religious positions,
the Big Island also could become the center of efforts to legalize
marijuana.

The Big Island's war on marijuana suffered a huge loss last month when the
police department returned $265,000 in federal drug enforcement money for
marijuana eradication.

'Eradication Plan Crippled'

Faced with questions about the success of the marijuana war and personal
concerns for their liability, council members voted to return the money.

"It's crippled our eradication program," said vice Lt. Henry Tavares, who is
in charge of marijuana eradication for the eastern half of Hawai'i County.
"We're doing what we can."

The federal money paid for things such as training equipment and
helicopters, which were critical for spotting marijuana operations and
dropping officers in and out to destroy plants.

That doesn't mean Tavares has given up the war on marijuana.

He was the only government official who showed up at Adler's greenhouse
blessing yesterday. There were no marijuana plants to be seen, and Tavares
watched the ceremony and chatted with Adler and Christie for about 45
minutes.

The law is clear, Tavares said. Marijuana, even for medical purposes,
remains illegal until the state narcotics enforcement officials approve
forms and procedures sometime in December.

Until then, Christie and Adler will continue to test the law.

"There's no doubt that social change usually begins with the act of one or
two people," St. Pierre said. "That's been true for all of human history."