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Testimony to the Finance Committee <br /> of the Hawaii County Council <br /> Subject: Acceptance of Federal Funds R~>v~~~ <br /> forRerial Marijuana Suppression X11°---~-~BY- <br /> June 16, 1997 ham J.k-..4.7--_-----•----.r: <br /> County Council r~ <br /> From: William B. Wenner, Volcano physician, 3D years efiperience in <br /> substance abuse problems and treatment. Member and certified by <br /> the flmerican Society of flddiction Medicine. Board Member of the Drug <br /> Policy Forum of Hawaii. <br /> Finance Committee Members; <br /> I have included with this page my May 13, 1896 testimony before the <br /> Council on this same subject and a letter I wrote on Augrtst 1, 1$$6 <br /> hoping to dissuade the Council from supporting the federal maz~uana <br /> suppression program. Everything said then still applies. There is no <br /> evidence that the campaign has anything but negative effects which are <br /> now even better documented. particularly the role that marijuana <br /> suppression has played in the serious °ice^ (smokeable metamphetamine) <br /> epidemic. <br /> As far as I know, the Council has not fulfilled their Legal mandate to <br /> review the effectiveness of the program. I would like to know whether <br /> there has been any independent monitoring of the amount of marijuana <br /> seized and ifs destruction. <br /> There appears to be an increasing awareness by the public of the lack of <br /> effectiveness of the program and increasing outrage over the loss of their <br /> constitutional rights to privacy and protection against unwarranted <br /> search and seizure. <br /> Over a period of the Last 100 years there have been at least a dozen <br /> studies undertaken by scientific bodies and "blue ribbbon" committees. <br /> <br /> None have found that the dangers of the use of marijuana wazranted <br /> criminal sanctions. At the present time 24 states have laws on the books <br /> to facilitate the use of marl Juana for medical purposes including the <br /> <br /> recent highly ln~blicized initiatives in California and Arizona. These laws <br /> have been blocked by federal government action, a fact decried by the <br /> editor of the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine. <br /> <br /> I would hope that .the Finance Committee and the Council as a whole will <br /> <br /> decline to continue this unpopular and harmful program and reject <br /> ferieraI money for marijuana suppression. <br /> William B. Wenner, M. D. <br /> eooo~ Diq 3~, <br /> Ylh lfa (1-S ~ <br /> Hd. <br /> ital. 1)ste <br /> dUN~$-T.. <br /> <br />