MEDICAL MARIJUANA USERS CLAIM POLICE HARASSING THEM

The Kona patients say officers block their legal use of the drug

KAILUA-KONA) Three Kona residents say Big Island police are blocking them
from legally using marijuana for medical purposes.

Rhonda Robison, her husband, John, and their house guest Kealoha Wells were
arrested Monday at their Kalaoa, North Kona, home for allegedly promoting a
detrimental drug. Police seized 20 marijuana plants and 1.5 ounces of
processed marijuana, Rhonda Robison said.

John Robison and Wells have leukemia, and Rhonda Robison has a form of
muscular dystrophy. They have permits to use marijuana under the state law
that allows medical marijuana users to have seven plants each, plus one
ounce of processed marijuana each, Robison said.

Police told them there would have been no arrests if each person's supply
had been separated from the others or if each plant was labeled with the
owner's name, Robison said. The law does not require that, she said.

The Robisons were arrested twice before, in March and November of last
year. No charges were filed then or on Monday.

Because police have seized their plants each time they start to mature, the
couple has never grown usable plants, Robison said.

In November, police seized John Robison's carpentry tools because they
might have been used to construct a setup to grow marijuana, and seized the
couple's computer because it might have contained evidence of marijuana
sales, Robison said.

The couple petitioned the Attorney General, and their property was returned
about two weeks ago, Robison said.

They think the return of their property incited police. "They weren't happy
with that. This makes me honestly believe we're just targeted," she said.

Kona Criminal Investigation Division Capt. Julian Shiroma denied that.
"That was never our intent, and it is not our intent to seek retribution,"
he said.

"We responded to a report from a concerned citizen," Shiroma said. A search
warrant was approved by a judge, he said.

John Robison was diagnosed 10 years ago with acute lymphocytic leukemia,
his wife said. Doctors consider it a miracle he is alive, she said.

Wells was diagnosed with the same disease recently and just returned Friday
from three weeks of radiation therapy, Rhonda Robison said.

A 1974 study of tetrahydrocannabinol, the psychoactive substance in
marijuana, showed it reduced tumors in three kinds of cancer, including
virus-induced leukemia, she said.

However, other research, including from the University of California-Los
Angeles, indicates that marijuana smoke, which includes THC and about 400
other substances, may promote cancer.

Still, John Robison attributes his long-term survival to marijuana use, his
wife said.

Rhonda Robison uses it to treat Charco-Marie-Tooth disease, a form of
muscular dystrophy.

When John Robison saw police outside the Robison house at 7 a.m. Monday, he
said, "Here they come again to get us," Rhonda Robison said.

"You do understand we are medical marijuana users?" she asked police. They
said the problem was not having plants individually labeled. Robison said
she had prepared such labels but had not yet put them on the plants.

Shiroma said the search was done after consulting with the county
prosecutor and the state Narcotics Enforcement Division.

State Public Safety head Ted Sakai, whose responsibilities include
narcotics, said there is no requirement for separate storage or labeling of
plants when more than one medical user lives in a house.

The ultimate decision on searches and arrests lie with police, he said. The
police action shows a gray area in the law that needs to be clarified, he
added.

During the search, Rhonda Robison said, one police officer threatened to
hit the Robisons' dog with a piece of rebar. "I said, 'Look, we are
cooperating,'" she said.

Police then arrested them.

"We're not violent people," she said. "We're a very Christian-based family."