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Home My WebLink AboutCOM 0381.000 2002-2004 7(e ~fawai'i Cannabis ~linist~ry "We use cannabis religiously and you can, too" October 10~', 2003 ~ ~ ~ ` ~ '03 OCT 14 Pfd 3 35 James Arakaki, Chairman Hawaii County Council COUP. CL'c;;,C 25 Aupuni Street COUNTI' ii= HANJ,411 Hilo, Hawaii 96720 Dear Sir, Aloha. I respect you, your humanity and many of your efforts to better the living conditions for the people of this beautiful island. One point we have disagreed on, however, is your support for the marijuana eradication program. I hereby request on behalf of myself, a private citizen, and the members of my THC Ministry, and on behalf of all others similarly situated, that you as an elected Hawaii County Council member, please: 1. Show me a 'mandatory program review' (or its substitute) of the marijuana eradication program by the council as required every four years according to Hawaii County Charter Section 3-16, or that you 2. Introduce and support a resolution for an independent and critical program review of the marijuana eradication program within the next 10 days. I request that you offer to amend the county budget to pay for the review. I hope that you will answer my request within the next 10 days. If not, I will accept for value your offer. I believe that the marijuana eradication program, which you have supported and approved for funding, continues to do irrepairable damage and harm to me, the members of my THC Ministry and to tens of thousands of inhabitants of this island. In my opinion, a mandatory program review would help to achieve long- overdue accountability and responsibility for taxpayers' hard-earned money spent on the controversial program. I also suspect that a critical review will expose the cause of the'ice' problem and other social detriments that we all face. The only federally-funded study that I know of came to a similar conclusion. Mahalo and aloha. Respectfully yours, Q' ~ Comm. No. v Ref. 70: ~,oger('firtistic Ref. Dote [1(`T~ 3 Cannablz Sacs arnPnt Minster ww~n.~. thc-ministry.org PO E3ox 202 Hilo. Kingdom of Hawai"i 96721 pakalohaC~gtenet (8115) Y61-Q188 k lawmi iC<3[o I )epartn~oni of Hoalih L ircnu no 0(}37 i National Institute on Drug Abuse 1991-1994 Final Report ICE and Other Methamphetamine Use: An Exploratory Study (Entire report has been removed from the N.I.D.A. website) Highlights of the effects of marijuana eradication on the'ice' problem: "The use of ice in Honolulu had led to particulazly serious physical and psychological problems and significant social disruption in poor working communities where it replaced marijuana which had become scarce and expensive due to eradication policies." (From the summary of findings) "There aze thought to be several influences on the tremendous growth of ice in Honolulu after 1987. Residents were both pushed away from pakalolo, their staple drug of choice, and pulled toward ice by awell-organized mazketing campaign by Asian distributors. Also, the overwhelming smokable drug of choice, marijuana or pakalolo, which has been grown and used throughout the islands for many years, became the tazget of a government eradication campaign. This drove up prices, drastically reduced availability and left locals without their customary, and many would say relatively benign, smoke. Also very. importantly, many locals derived either part or all of their livelihood from marijuana production. Robbed of this needed income man experienced co~srderable economic""~iazc s':~ "~ius when a new, easy to use, smo~lca~ile pro uc en ere~ie mar~Ce~,~one which at first felt non threaterung to youthful novitiates -ice, it was readily accepted as a product to be used and sold. Initial users were often likely to think of it as a substitute of sorts for pakalolo." (Page 22) "An important finding emerging from this study concerned the effect on individuals and communities from the scarcity of marijuana due to the eradication campaigns. Users often reported this was a major contribution to the increase in the use of meth especially in Honolulu. In many communities it had a devastating effect. As one respondent reported: The ice use on the Waianae coast is greater than a lot of other places in the state. This is like a central distribution center for ice. IYs a known fact among the drug addicts and users on the island. IYs easier to get than weed. IYs not much more expensive than weed either. The amount of people here that use ice is increasing because people who muldn't find weed were starting to find ice easier. Plenty guys I know use ice because they can't get pot. I'd rather see them smoking pakalolo cause they were mellow, nice people. On ice, they change into robbing houses and carrying guns in less than one month. Things they never did on weed: ' (Page 123) "Moreover, successful periodic campaigns designed to eliminate this "evil" herb, serve to steer the user to more dangerous substances. Findings presented in Chapter 7 on the social consequences of ice in Honolulu demonstrated that the latest version of the American campaign against marijuana continues to have the same unfortunate consequences." (Page 163) Anti-pot efforts - ~ ti boost = 3" ~~y~~~~~E~ Y ~ ~ °es ~ ~'S~ ~ ~ ~~70 ~em ~'oeo•a~ c E ~ r ice use ~ ~ ~ 3~~~ ~ O Marijuana prices ~ a , ° ; i driven up; users ~ ~ i s ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ turn to crystai meth ~ ey Chrls Loos E ' ~ e o ~ ~ ~ _ ° Triune-Fbrald ~ ~ ~ - $ a+ '~~t .5 ~ " ~ y ~ ° Marijuana eradieatina_ .in. y 'j ~ = ~ ~ ~ g 31° E Hawaii contributed to the ~ ~ - ~ ~ 3 g ~ ~ " incrase is the use of the drug ~ : ~ ; ~ ~ ~ $ : ~ meat study. ag to a govern-• ' 0 $ ; » r q 15 ~ ~ tJ o~'. M aide to Mayor Harry Kith ~ € ~ ~ q ~ ~ ~ O x ' is achedtlled b meet today with « i f~F !6S ~yar study f`~ « tb~e Naa~lo~o- ~ ~ si ~3 '~S at Inatitwe oo f)ttlg Above. The study gathered ia~ $ I~g ~ • ~ ~ ~ ~ from 45o metbam _ Isere m Hooolulq Sao Fraacia- ~ ~ $ ~ ~ , Ee co and San ~¦a ~ 4 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ '7t's the 5rst ever done 8 7 = ~u that interviewed user in the Q ~ ~ >r o ~ S'B ~ e d study leaser i + g . ~ ~g ~ 2 ~ ~ E 'q e u 9 e u the Srbool of~Wb~)K tiw~lfdl~at the ' ` ~ _ ~ 2 `o ~ ~ " V u u~ u~ 3 q m~ u Univesiry of California at Bake- r e oe y e „ e e ley, vas vacaCOning in Kona. e w : ; ~ 3 . ~ ~ > > ~ y~ WhCn She learned that Klm'S O ~ e Z7 9 : r. ~ ~ C ~ t QIeC1~Ne aSSLTiarlt, Bluy Kenol. ~ ° Y 7 C .n wasted w rsKet with her to du- L ~ " ~ c 3 ~ e ° ~ 8 to organize i "meth sutnmitP ogn ~ ~ ° e .Ye ~ E ° h o ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ e' the Big }stand nczt month ~ $ Y E ~ e ~ e g r E o e Morgan's 1994 report, some' 0 r e y m E E 2 = ~ a 200 pages long, found that the: a c c ~ s 7 l ~ ao0 Q~ v California methamphetamine ~ - ~ u users were more likely to snort ¦ • m 3 ~ ~ ~ > r m c eu a,• E ~ or inject the drug, while 86 per- W me e= ° ~ ~ ~ e B ~ ~ c cent of the Hawaii users a ~ Y ~ = q z ~ ° . , : i = smoked the crystal forth. ~ c 'a ~ n a ~ ~ ' m~ ~ Y c ~ 'r ~ "The ux of ice in Honolulu ~ li E v ~ ~ 5 . ~ 'r r , v had led to particularly serious physical and psychological ~ problems and significant social disruption in poor working communities when: it replaced See ICE, Page 8