MEDICAL POT USER ASSAULTED

Five men armed with automatic weapons burst into a Kapoho man's home
Tuesday night and beat him before stealing prescription marijuana and cash,
the victim said.

Police issued a two - sentence statement confirming the robbery and some of
the details, but declined to provide additional information regarding the
incident.

The man, who asked to be identified only as a retired U.S. Army officer,
said robbers carrying AK - 47 submachine guns, a shotgun and a .45 -
caliber pistol burst through his door at 8:30 p.m.

Dressed like "ninjas," they wore ski masks and dark glasses to conceal
their identities, he said. The man said he was punched twice in the face
and knocked to the ground while his wife also was roughed up.

"This is unreal," the victim said Tuesday in a phone interview, his voice
choked with emotion as he recalled the ordeal. "I spent a year in Vietnam,
and I was never under that much of a threat."

The man said he and his disabled wife have state - issued prescriptions to
grow and possess limited quantities of marijuana.

"I've never been on the illegal side (of marijuana use)," he said, adding
he and his wife use marijuana to treat pain, and that he is recognized as a
caregiver for another legal user.

Two other medical marijuana users verified the man has been approved to use
pot.

Expecting to find a large pot operation and lots of cash, the robbers held
both the man and his wife at gunpoint, he said.

"It was all to cause fear in me so I would do what they wanted," he said.
"They wanted the cash and the drying room."

The robbers escaped with seven mature marijuana plants, three ounces of
dried marijuana and $500 in cash, the man said.

The man speculated he wouldn't have been attacked if the group had known he
wasn't a commercial grower reluctant to call police.

The man said he hopes police will catch the robbers and that news of his
story will produce leads. However, he feels police have been feeding the
robbers information so they can avoid capture.

"I told (police) that I don't trust them," he said.

Lt. James Kelly denied that police are helping criminals.

"I really feel sorry that he feels that way," Kelly said. "I don't know
where he would get something like that. I haven't seen anything that even
comes close to that (allegation)."

The victim, a four - year Kapoho resident, said he will not stay overnight
at his house "until this terrorist group is caught" and may leave the island.

As for his hard - to - replace medicine, the man said he will either use
prescription painkillers or ask to borrow marijuana from other authorized
users.

Jonathan Adler, a vocal marijuana advocate and holder of a prescription to
use the drug as medicine, said laws must be changed to allow people to
protect their families against this type of attack.

Adler complained that a misdemeanor conviction in the 1970s for marijuana
possession prevents him from owning a firearm.

"I'm not allowed to protect my family according to the Constitution of the
United States of America," he said.

Anyone with information about the robbery is asked to call police at 966 -
5835 or 933 - 3311.