REPORT THE REAL NEWS

I was disappointed by the recent local news story, "State's attorney
says pot priority law void," by John Burnett. The headline was false
and misleading. There was no such finding or ruling by the attorney
general. What was really reported was that our county's prosecutor
spoke with the state attorney general and he is still of the opinion
that the new Peaceful Skies Ordinance mandating the lessening of the
enforcement against adult cannabis use is "unenforceable." Triple
hearsay at its finest!

This article is really nothing more than pouring old news into new
headlines. It merely re-hashes how our current law enforcement
officials view this new ordinance. Another misleading statement claims
that the Peaceful Skies Ordinance "would leave the enforcement of
marijuana laws to each police officer." In fact, the opposite is true.

Presently the enforcement of the cannabis prohibition laws are left to
the police officer. Under the new ordinance, the officer is instead
directed to consider the enforcement as a low priority in recognition
of the terrible waste of public taxes and resources on the courts,
police, probation and prison system not to mention the intangible
human loss of property and self esteem.

It is these overriding concerns of the public that are behind this
long overdue step toward the lessening of the punishment of crimes
without victims or rather crimes that make victims of those the laws
are designed to protect. While any new law would pose a challenge to
the status quo, the real issue is not whether the ordinance is
"enforceable" but rather that the public has overwhelmingly called for
our public officials to figure out how to change the course of this
war on the people they represent and whether they will abide by that
mandate. This is the real news about Peaceful Skies and something to
report on.

Paul J. Sulla

Hilo