DIDN'T OBAMA SAY...

Members of Americans for Safe Access, an advocacy group on the big
island that supports safe access to cannabis medicine, are saddened
to learn that Roger Christie's THC ministry has been raided by the
feds ("Feds Raid Hilo Cannabis Ministry," March 11, Tribune-Herald).
Thc ministry has served to provide cannabis to patients who were
otherwise unable to obtain the medicine they had been legally prescribed.

It is no coincidence that the raid and the 12 raids ("Feds also
raided isle residences," March 12 Tribune-Herald) that occurred on
the same day was a tightly orchestrated government move at all levels
to stop the advancement of a bill in Honolulu to create state
"compassion centers," or dispensaries, and to strike fear into local
residents that the war on cannabis is not over.

The current state law makes the more than 5,000 state medically
certified patient criminals when they attempt to buy cannabis on the
black market. What is the logic to a law that allows one to be
certified to have it, but provides no way to obtain it? The state
Legislature is attempting to correct this after 10 years ... .

It is particularly disturbing that the feds are involved in raiding a
"dispensary," especially after President Obama ordered the DEA to
call off the raids in California.

THC Ministry supplied a greatly needed service to critically ill and
suffering patients by providing a safe space and reliable source for
their medicine in advance of the state regulated and taxed
dispensaries that will come.

Christie is a spiritual leader of compassion, action and good deeds
who is not afraid to speak his convictions and beliefs. He is also
very brave to have faced 13 federal agents at his front door at 6 a.m.

Andrea Tischler

Hilo