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News (Media Awareness Project) - US HI: Tough Aloha
Title:US HI: Tough Aloha
Published On:2005-07-27
Source:MidWeek (HI)
Fetched On:2008-01-15 23:08:43
TOUGH ALOHA

As Hawaii's top federal prosecutor, Ed Kubo engages in some tough talk.
Recall the "medical marijuana is dead" quote recently?

When it comes to things like drugs or terrorism, Kubo is all business.

But under that suit and tie is the relaxed aloha of a local boy who's as
ready to talk about Jasmine Trias as he is about constitutional rights vs.
the Patriot Act.

Tough talk may be the prosecutors' M.O., but Kubo's "got a big heart," says
friend and colleague Larry Butrick.

"He's very concerned about his community," says Butrick, the executive
assistant U.S. attorney and criminal chief. "He spends more time in town
hall meetings, and Read to Me sessions at schools, and at neighborhood
meetings. Any kind of club or activity that wants him to come out, he goes."

Kubo is particularly passionate about his local roots, which explains his
desire to make Hawaii a safer place and enlightens the terse statements you
see him making on the evening news.

And so, what about medical marijuana? Kubo kicked up some dust when he
pronounced the state's medical marijuana program dead as a result of a
Supreme Court ruling.

The American Civil Liberties Union threatened to sue over his remarks and
there was some Internet chat suggesting he needed to smoke something to
relax a bit.

Nonplussed by the reaction, Kubo sticks by his statement that medical
marijuana is dead under federal law.

"We will continue what we have in the past going after big time dealers,"
Kubo says. "We're not intending to prosecute at all, and I will oppose
using federal resources to go after the sick and dying."

Kubo also says he does not intend to go after doctors merely for certifying
marijuana for patients. But -- and here is the "but" -- if there is
evidence that doctors are involved in the distribution of marijuana, or are
providing certification for patients who are not legally qualified, they
could be prosecuted like anyone else, he says.

This policy all could change, however, as a result of meetings in Spokane,
Wash., last week. Kubo and U.S. attorneys from the 10 other medical
marijuana states met to discuss the issue. If there is no agreement on how
to handle it, the final say could go to the U.S. Attorney General, Kubo says.

The long and the short of it: The issue is still far from dead.

Given all the ruckus, you just have to ask Kubo if he ever tried pakalolo
himself while attending Waipahu High School in the early '70s when the drug
culture was flourishing.

"No," Kubo says. "And you know why? My father is a typical ..." he stops
and thinks hard, then continues with a twinkle in his eye "... strict,
military, old-fashioned Japanese with a 'you never bring shame to your
family' attitude. My mother was an expert in the art of 'shame on you.' And
in that strict household, my parents not only would have shamed me and I
would have brought shame to my family, but my father would have done things
to me that would have put me in a hospital. It was that fear factor of what
would happen if I ever did, and so I never even experimented."

"Even talking about it, look at this, my hands are sweating," adds the
52-year-old, laughing.

Kubo is quick to add that, along with the strictness, there was plenty of
love and compassion in his family. It's this background that gives Kubo
that interesting mix of samurai and social worker, which now makes him as
ready to reach out a helping hand as the long arm of the law.

"He's the proverbial nice guy, very low-key, extremely modest and he's very
well regarded by the entire law enforcement community," says Rep. Barbara
Marumoto, who initially recommended Kubo for the job.

While there is a tendency for tension and rivalry between the different law
enforcement agencies, Kubo has gone out of his way to create an atmosphere
of cooperation, says City Prosecutor Peter Carlisle. And that makes them
more effective.

"With Ed what you see is what you get," Carlisle says. "It's not watered
down by scheming or ambition or power and control issues. I think he's
pretty genuine in what he would like to do, and he goes ahead and does it
in a straightforward way."

Despite the recent debate over medical marijuana, Kubo's No. 1 target has
always been ice. Concerned by the devastating effects of a drug that has
some Hawaii children addicted as early as sixth grade, Kubo has been a
staunch proponent of not just prosecution but support programs and education.

And he believes the state is winning the war. Ice use in high schools is
starting to drop, he says. More people are in treatment, "and we're
starting to see the ice prices go up, which means we're starting to cut off
the supply."

Even if the community does manage to lick ice, new challenges lie ahead.
Yaba, as in the Flintstones' Yaba Daba Doo, is a pill form of ice that
already is encroaching on Hawaii shores.

"Last year the United States, in conjunction with an investigation with
Thai officials, took down an organization and seized 1 million tablets,"
Kubo says. "It was destined for the United States and it was coming here
first."

Another new arrival from the East Coast is Special K.

"It's not a cereal," Kubo says dryly. "It's the name for ketamine, and in
essence what this is is a tranquilizer that vets use to put horses down to
operate on them. And, my God, who in their right mind would be the first
person to say, 'You know, I'd like to try this'? I don't know who out
there, and whether or not this person is still living or not, but these are
drugs which are working their way toward our youth."

The other big challenge for the U.S. Attorney's office is the war on
terror. President Bush appointed Kubo to the position just seven days
before the 9/11 attacks. Through his job, he has been to Ground Zero and
talked to people who were there that day. The experiences moved him deeply
and strengthened his commitment to his job.

When it comes to terrorist attacks, Hawaii is safe, but not immune, Kubo says.

"We are the United States," he says. "We do have a large military. We have
everything here which is appealing to the terrorists who attacked Bali, we
have nightclubs, we're a resort town, we are dependent on tourism. So
Hawaii is never going to be immune."

It's because of this that Kubo is a staunch supporter of the Patriot Act.
The law gives law enforcement agencies greater freedoms in gathering
information, but has been criticized for violating constitutional rights.

"I am privy to success stories," he says, instances where the Patriot Act
has kept the country safe.

The nation's U.S. attorneys are in the frontlines of the war against
terror, and Kubo gets to know things that the rest of us can just guess at.
Throughout his career as a deputy city prosecutor and assistant U.S.
attorney, Kubo always has been reminded of the underbelly of society.

"In my line of work where you see so much pain out there, you need to keep
yourself in check," he says.

He does that with the help of his colleagues and his wife, Tammy, and the
five children they have from previous marriages.

Their match was the result of a blind date that eventually led to a
proposal in the Rose Garden. Right, that Rose Garden.

During a visit to the White House, Kubo arranged permission to use the
famous spot, where he dropped on one knee to pop the question. The scenic
proposal obviously worked, as the couple married in February last year at
the Halekulani.

The kid in Kubo also gets away with the help of a stack of Three Stooges
videos that sits next to his television at home.

"The originals, the ones with Curly -- I just love them," he says.

Oh, and about Jasmine Trias. When she was soaring to American Idol fame,
she could count the U.S. Attorney as one of her fans.

Kubo was there with his dialing finger when Progressive Communications
threw a voting party for Trias.

"I always treasure when a local boy or girl makes good," he says. "And
Jasmine was making Hawaii so proud of her, and I wanted to be part of that
support and so I jumped in there to help out."

Now, that's not tough talk.
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