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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0314.045 1996-1998 Testimony to the Finance Committee of the Hawaii County Council Subject: Acceptance of Federal Funds R~>v~~~ forRerial Marijuana Suppression X11°---~-~BY- June 16, 1997 ham J.k-..4.7--_-----•----.r: County Council r~ From: William B. Wenner, Volcano physician, 3D years efiperience in substance abuse problems and treatment. Member and certified by the flmerican Society of flddiction Medicine. Board Member of the Drug Policy Forum of Hawaii. Finance Committee Members; I have included with this page my May 13, 1896 testimony before the Council on this same subject and a letter I wrote on Augrtst 1, 1$$6 hoping to dissuade the Council from supporting the federal maz~uana suppression program. Everything said then still applies. There is no evidence that the campaign has anything but negative effects which are now even better documented. particularly the role that marijuana suppression has played in the serious °ice^ (smokeable metamphetamine) epidemic. As far as I know, the Council has not fulfilled their Legal mandate to review the effectiveness of the program. I would like to know whether there has been any independent monitoring of the amount of marijuana seized and ifs destruction. There appears to be an increasing awareness by the public of the lack of effectiveness of the program and increasing outrage over the loss of their constitutional rights to privacy and protection against unwarranted search and seizure. Over a period of the Last 100 years there have been at least a dozen studies undertaken by scientific bodies and "blue ribbbon" committees. None have found that the dangers of the use of marijuana wazranted criminal sanctions. At the present time 24 states have laws on the books to facilitate the use of marl Juana for medical purposes including the recent highly ln~blicized initiatives in California and Arizona. These laws have been blocked by federal government action, a fact decried by the editor of the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine. I would hope that .the Finance Committee and the Council as a whole will decline to continue this unpopular and harmful program and reject ferieraI money for marijuana suppression. William B. Wenner, M. D. eooo~ Diq 3~, Ylh lfa (1-S ~ Hd. ital. 1)ste dUN~$-T.. The result of the succe.,sfuI marijuana growing suppressron in the Hawaiian Islands has been: 1. To increase the price and potency of the marijuana grown, 2. To be sure that only desperate people willing to take the rlsk of imprisonment ase involved in the trade, 3. That the street dealer inevitably has other more dangerous, and in many cases less expensive, drugs to sell. There is general agreement among drug treatment people in these islands that the "ice" (smokeable metamphetamine) epidemic here is directly related to the scarcity and expense of marijuana. This has been particularly devastating in Hawau because of the absence of any prior knowledge of this substance. Marijuana is still avallable to adults willing to pay the price---to the casual occasional user the expense is still not greater than an evening of good scotch. The damage is to the young experimenter of limited means who has been denied meaningful drug education---limited in our school systems to "Just Say No" delivered by a police ofllcer instead of a teacher. I enclose a flier noting a conference to take place in Honolulu on the serious "ice" problem. It has been said there is no such thing as a free lunch. The federally funded helicopter marijuana interdiction is not free. It is hurting the very people this ennneil is elected to serve. It is taking limited police personnel away from their primary duties, protecting all of us from violence and crime---it doesn't matter that this vacation from real police duties is at federal expense. I urge the councll to pass on this year's federal marijuana interdiction subsidy. Who knows? Maybe the money will 8nd its way into a critically underfunded drug treatment program. I thank the councfl for the opportunity of addressing them. William B. Wenner, M. D. PO Box 895 Volcano, HI 96785 (808) 967-8095 (W) 327-2900 This testimony is delivered ahead of time so that you all have an opportunity to peruse it. I would be happy to clarify anything that is not clear. . TESTIMONY TO THE HAWAII COUNTY COUNCIL SUBJECT: FEDERALLY FUNnFn lunoi_!llpNe_ Ci1DPOC_C_C_1_f_1N__ ( Operation Green Harvest] May 13, 1996 Councll Members: My name is Wllliam Wenner. I am a physician with a home Ln Volcano and a medical nractice in Kallua-Kona for the past seven years. For over thirty yeazs I have been involved in the study and treatment of substance abuse, both alcohol and drubs. I am one of a handful of doctors in the State of Hawaii certified by the American Society of Addiction Medicine. Each year since my arrival here I have watched the council approve the federally funded aerial mariiuana suppression without much discussion other than to determine that no local funds are involved and then take no further interest in what happened. There has been no effort to determine the validity of the, what I believe to be largely fictitious, numbers of plants alleged to be recovered---reminiscent of the Vietnam bode counts---( my personal observation of the annual visit of the helicopter to the vacant lot next to my house yielding 2-3 plants sugv~ests that a good bit of the plant count comes from "weeding" cazefully mapped abandoned plots). There has been no independent determination of the disuosal of the plants and no study of the consequences of the operation. Whatever decision the councll makes this year, T would hope it will do so with the knowledge that it beazs responsibllity for the way the operation is carried out and the consequences of the procedure. The fact that local funds are not involved and that the campaiisri is conducted under the supervision of the Drug Enforcement Administration in no way reduces the council's accountability. The War On Drugs has been based on faulty suppositions as to the effect on use of increasing penalties and iQterdictfon of supplies. The past sixteen years have seen an ever increasing picture of escalating penalties, imprisonment of tens of thousands of people whose only crime.is use of a drug that Ss illegal and expenditure of billions of tax dollars. The result is increasing criminality, violence and drug use. The response has been to double all of the things that are not working. Increasingly, thoughtful people of all political persuasions are calling for achange---an end to the Vietnami~ation of drug policy. The most transparent hypocrisy is marijuana use suppression. There is probably no one in the council chamber today who has not either smoked martinana or been in the rresence of someone committing this crime. There is probably no one on the police force under the age of fifty who has not smoked marijuana. Nevertheless, we are supposed to believe it is important to track down and imprison growers of even a few plants and morally positive to seize their homes and automobiles---incidentally enriching our local police. William B. Wenner, M.U. Post OtTice Box 895 Volcano, Hawaii 96785 Hugest 1, 1996 Hawaii County Council Finance Committee County Building Hilo, Hawaii Dear Council Members: This Letter is written in reference to the upcoming meeting to decide whether to continue to accept federal funds for aerial marijuana suppression. I include a copy of my May 13 testimony before the Councff. Every thing in that testimony is still applicable. I would hope the Finance Committee would also review the results of this year's operation. I have seen no evidence that the Council has been any more involved in the operation than before. If there is to be a continuation of this project, I would hope that a condition would be independent corroboration of the numbers and destruction of plants. Public notice of the time and place of counting and destruction would seem to be reasonable. I know of no one who has any confidence in the figures published in the paper. The amount of money accruing to the local police from forfeiture in marijuana cases should be part of the public record. Police Department enthusiasm for marijuana suppression is at Ieast partiatIy related to financial self interest. I would hope that the finance committee would delay action on this matter until all information as noted above is available. Sincerely, William B. Wenner, M. D.