POLICE TO RETURN POT - AGAIN

A Big Island man running for governor received court approval Tuesday to
retrieve nearly an ounce of marijuana police seized from his wife last
October.

However, Jonathan Adler learned he must wait until Monday for the District
Court to release the 27 grams of marijuana he plans to smoke as treatment
for chronic pain.

When that occurs, Adler will become the fourth Big Islander in the last
month to recover medical marijuana police had confiscated.

The pot Adler is seeking is his, yet prosecutors used it as evidence July 11
in convicting his wife, Nuansawat, of misdemeanor possession, resulting in a
$25 fine.

"We hold all evidence for 30 days for the appeal period," court clerk
Pauline Tanaka told the Tribune - Herald after denying Adler's demand that
the marijuana be returned.

Monday will be the first business day following the mandatory waiting
period, she said.

News of the delay did not sit well with Adler, who came to the court with an
order District Judge Jeffrey Choi signed earlier in the day authorizing the
return of the marijuana.

"I want my medicine now," Adler shouted in the crowded court office.

Adler, 50, said the seized marijuana is "some of the best I ever produced,"
but added he is unsure it is still usable after being stored for nearly a
year.

He earlier went to the Hilo Police Station seeking his property, but was
told that while the judge's order is valid, the marijuana is being held at
the courthouse and he would have to go there.

Wearing an aloha shirt he said he found Monday at the Keaau transfer
station, Adler remained very excited throughout much of his roughly two -
hour effort.

"They're making me do so much legwork," he said.

Adler said he suffered a head injury in a car accident, which has left him
with frequent pain that makes him eligible under state law to use and grow
limited amounts of marijuana.

Nuansawat Adler produced a state - issued card authorizing her to act as a
caregiver for her husband, who holds a similar card stating he can use
marijuana as medicine.

A vocal marijuana advocate and frequent candidate for elected office, Adler
was arrested in 1998 after police found 89 marijuana plants growing on his
property.

During the course of the ensuing trial, Adler missed a court appearance,
resulting in the issuance of a bench warrant for his arrest.

Police arrested him last year at his Hawaiian Paradise Park home, he said.

Nuansawat Adler said police later called to instruct her to bring her
husband's medicine, which she delivered along with marijuana to the Hilo
cellblock the following morning, at which time police arrested her for
possession.

Police last month returned 1.5 ounces of marijuana seized earlier in the
month from three Kona residents registered with the state to possess the
drug.

Police involved with the case said it was the first time in Hawaii, and
probably the nation, that law enforcement officials returned pot to its
owner.

Motivated by that case, Adler vowed to not give up until he obtains the
marijuana police took from him.

"You got to have some degree of tenacity to do what I do," he said. "It's
not easy."