LINES DRAWN OVER POT USE

A County Council committee heard from about two dozen people Tuesday
night who testified that police are ignoring the voter-passed
initiative making adult personal use of marijuana the lowest
law-enforcement priority.

The committee on Public Safety and Parks and Recreation received and
filed a request from Police Commission Chairman Thomas Whittemore to
review and rectify what he called ambiguities in the initiative passed
into law by almost 58 percent of the island's voters in November 2008.

Adam Lehman, one of the authors of the so-called "Peaceful Sky"
ordinance, took exception to Whittemore's reference to
ambiguities.

"The only thing ambiguous about this new law is the lack of
willingness by some county members to honor the will of the people,"
Lehman testified. "This statement that was made by the chair of the
police commission that the county wasn't allowed to, quote, clean up
the language, unquote. How insulting to the people you serve. This
language is clean. The minds of those who are not willing to accept
this law is what needs cleaning up."

The law makes adult use and possession of 24 or fewer ounces of
cannabis on private property, or the cultivation 24 or fewer plants,
the lowest law-enforcement priority. It also directs the council not
to accept money related to marijuana eradication.

Hamakua Councilman Dominic Yagong, the committee's chairman, asked
county Corporation Counsel Lincoln Ashida if the law prohibits the
police "from accepting funding for marijuana eradication."

"It prevents the acceptance ... yes, in regards to the lowest
law-enforcement priority," Ashida replied.

Yagong said that he perceives a "disconnect" between voters and law
enforcement over the issue.

"I think it's frankly erroneous to conclude that HPD from the
inception has just blown this off and said, 'Screw it. We're not going
to follow it,'" Ashida said. "... They were concerned about this
provision because it did involve the acceptance of outside funds from
the state and federal government. And it was decided, early on, that
the receipt and the expenditure of those funds would be consistent
with this initiative. That is, that the money would be expended to go
after large-scale growers and distributors, but that the money would
not be used to target persons that fall under the definition of 'adult
personal use.'"

Replied Yagong: "I think the disconnect is when you talk about large-scale
marijuana growers and then you read the eradication reports that say ...
less than 24 plants, then there's a conflict there. We accept the money for
large-scale, then we still make this sort of eradication."

"I would just say this, Mr. Yagong, that those questions are best
addressed on a fact-specific, case-by-case inquiry," Ashida said.
"There may have been reasons why, in the report ... that involved
misdemeanor quantities of marijuana, but ... it may not be clear
whether it was related to other offenses which were related to that."

Andrea Tischler, a Peaceful Sky Alliance director, said the
organization's board wrote about 50 letters to local authorities
citing what she termed called non-compliance to the law.

"This is a total disregard of our efforts, circumvents the democratic
system and process, and shows great disrespect and contempt for the
35,000 citizens who voted for the ordinance," Tischler said. "The
police, prosecutor, mayor, corporation counsel, the County Council
(and) the police commission have violated, or are not in compliance
with just about every section of the ordinance."

One testifier likened police and prosecutors to "bullies" while
another called marijuana enforcement by local police "an outrage" and
"a dog-and-pony show."

North Kona Councilman Kelly Greenwell, whose resolution seeking to
decriminalize possession of marijuana on the county level was voted
down 5-2 last month, implied that the spirit of the law is being
ignored by law enforcement.

"There can be no question what the spirit of this law was," Greenwell
said.

Ashida, in a Feb. 1 e-mail to Yagong, wrote that "police and
prosecutors are not legally required to make adult personal use of
marijuana their lowest enforcement priority," citing the doctrine of
federal and state preemption of local laws.

"...The initiative simply provides our police and prosecutors this
option if they so choose," Ashida wrote.