CHIEF'S COMMENT

A Dangerous Position

Recently our police chief stated: "If you're pro-drug, or
pro-marijuana, you're automatically pro-terrorist."

Please tell me he was misquoted. He's probably correct that "some
terrorists profit from the sale of illegal drugs like marijuana," but
an illogical conclusion like that would brand us all terrorists for
consuming oil -- a commodity that funnels major amounts of money to
radical terrorist causes.

Does Chief Mahuna realize that the poppy fields of Afghanistan (the
source of huge amounts of heroin in this country) are ignored by U.S.
forces because of the intricate relationship between the Afghan
warlords and the occupying forces there?

Using the word "terrorist" to label those opposed to one's views has
become the new "communist" for those of us old enough to remember
McCarthyism. Lumping all illegal drugs together is a naive and
dangerous position for someone who is in charge.

Does he also have a medical degree that no one knows about? He said,
"I may have seen one (medical certificate) that was in compliance" out
of more than 1,300 medical marijuana users on this island.

Has he really reviewed all 1,300? And he's also a religious leader who
professes to know that God(s) doesn't want anybody to be stoned. Where
does he get this stuff?

Chief Mahuna must still be living in a "plantation" society, where
governance comes down from above. The will of the people doesn't seem
to matter. To support his opposition to the recently approved
initiative, he compares domestic violence to pot use. Again, I hope he
was misquoted, because this sort of fallacious thinking only makes
intelligent discussion impossible.

As signified by the recent elections in our country, hopefully, we are
entering a progressive era of government, where the politics of stupid
and uninformed have been rejected in favor of the politics of
intelligence, where decisions will be based on evidence and reasoned
analysis rather than on "gut" feelings or the propaganda of
yesteryear. "Reefer Madness" was not a documentary.

If you don't like marijuana, then by all means don't use it --
there'll be more for the rest of us.

Donald Gross

Kailua-Kona