A CERTAIN MYSTIQUE

"Puna Butter. Stoney mother. There is no other." -- Chant describing
Puna-grown marijuana.

The Maui Wowee, Kona Gold and Puna Butter smuggled out of the Islands has
always been accorded a certain mystique in marijuana lore.

"The perception is that Hawaii continues to produce some of the most
legendary, quality pot in the country," said Steven Wishnia, senior editor
at High Times Magazine, a 200,000-circulation magazine devoted to the
marijuana culture.

No one disputes that Green Harvest cut into the industry. But it also drove
up the price of pakalolo, from $25 an ounce in the 1970s to $400 today, and
as much as $600 if it's smuggled from the Big Island to Maui, Kauai or Oahu.

So an ounce of high-grade, Big Island-grown marijuana can be worth twice the
price of gold. Under the shade of a banyan tree in Puna, a 27-year-old
marijuana grower unscrewed the lid of a blue water jug, opened the brown
paper bag inside and unleashed the smell of high-grade, Puna-grown pakalolo.

Even in the shadows, it was impossible not to see the look of
self-satisfaction that spread across his gaunt, unlined face. The grower
leaned back in his chair and admired the ounce of cannabis sativa laid out
before him.

It was the result of cross-breeding small, quick-growing plants in pots he
can move quickly to avoid detection. His guerrilla style represents the
modern era in Hawaii's war on marijuana.

"Today," the grower said, "it's duck-and-cover."

The next day, nearly 20 miles away in Puna's Hawaiian Paradise Park, Big
Island vice detectives Burt Shimabukuro and Benton Bolos rappelled out of a
Hughes 500 helicopter and into a grove of ohia trees to ruin some other
grower's day. In less than five minutes, Shimabukuro and Bolos had slid out
of the helicopter, cut 110 2-foot pakalolo plants with their machetes, and
flown off in search of more clandestine patches.

"In and out, just like that," said Big Island vice Lt. Henry Tavares, who is
in charge of marijuana eradication for the eastern half of Hawaii County.

As growers have spread smaller plants over miles of other peoples' land,
police have responded by traveling in three helicopters: one that spots
marijuana and two that carry five officers each who remove the plants.
Traveling lighter means they can move quicker and cover miles of terrain.

"We taught the growers our methods," Tavares said. "Now we're adapting,
too."