BIG ISLAND REJECTS FEDERAL FUNDS FOR WAR ON POT

The Green Harvest 'No' Vote By The Hawaii County Council Is Not
Final

HILO " With Hawaii County Councilman Bob Jacobson calling for an end
to the "marijuana war," the Council rejected three federal grants
totaling $582,000 for marijuana eradication.

That could mark the end of 30 years of "Green Harvest" eradication
efforts by Hawaii County police.

But there was no certainty. A second vote must be taken before the
money can be removed from the county's 2007-2008 budget.

And the Council has rejected federal eradication money before, voting
against it in 2000 but resuming acceptance in 2001.

HILO " The Hawaii County Council voted this week to remove $582,000 of
federal anti-marijuana money from the county's 2007-2008 budget.

The move could be the end of 30 years of so-called Green Harvest
eradication missions, or it could be a signal that the program will
survive, but with a major face lift.

"I'm stoked," said marijuana legalization advocate Roger Christie.
"It's the beginning of the end of cannabis eradication."

But Councilman Stacy Higa, who cast a lukewarm vote to keep the money
out of the budget, said the action was a technicality that will lead
to more discussion.

With the Council split 4-4, Higa twice voted "kanalua," a Hawaiian
word meaning "undecided." By law, two such votes are counted as a "yes" vote.

But the kanalua votes also signaled that Higa might change his vote
later.

Another vote is needed June 1 before the budget is approved for the
mayor's signature.

The county accepts grants from a variety of agencies, Higa said. The
eradication grants are the only ones placed directly in the budget at
the beginning of the fiscal year, he said.

With their removal from the budget, the Police Department would have
to come to the Council later and give a detailed justification of the
eradication program, he said.

Higa said he has heard countless stories of police helicopters
hovering over people's homes and officers rappelling down ropes into
people's yards.

"I believe in due process," he said. After marijuana is spotted from
the air, "I want to see a search warrant. Send in a ground crew," he
said.

Councilman Dominic Yagong voted against placing the federal money in
the budget, saying he would like to see a one-year moratorium on
helicopter-based eradication.

That was an about-face for Yagong, who voted for anti-marijuana money
in 1997, saying his constituents were for it.

"Back then, there was zero talk of 'ice' (crystal methamphetamine),"
he said. "Things have certainly changed with hard drugs."

One of his own family members had his life ruined by methamphetamine,
he said.

Federal eradication money cannot be switched to fight hard drugs, but
police staffing can be freed up from not fighting marijuana, he said.

Council Chairman Pete Hoffmann voted for the money. "Police have a
hard enough time trying to enforce the laws," he said. "I don't want
to strip the capability from them."

The police were surprised by the move. Assistant Chief James Day said
the chief and deputy chief were off island, and he was called to
testify Wednesday after dozens of marijuana advocates were well into
several hours of testimony against the money, he said.

The first eradication, and the only one officially called Green
Harvest, was in 1978. It was a time when marijuana growers, some of
them Vietnam War veterans, were carrying weapons, setting up
combat-style booby traps, even shooting at telephone workers putting
up wires.

By the 1990s, council members were having doubts about the helicopter
missions. In 2000 they voted against accepting $265,000 in federal
eradication funds, two-thirds of the program's money that year. But
the following year, they accepted the full amount offered.