The Honolulu Advertiser | Chasing Smoke: Hawaii's 24-year war on pot

Posted on: Sunday, April 9, 2000

“For the last six years, I’ve been selling hemp clothing, fabric and cosmetics products. On behalf of my company, myself and the Hawaiian Hemp Council, we look forward to the end of cannabis prohibition and we’re working, on a daily basis, to continue to restructure laws governing cannabis use.”

“We sure do waste lots of money on eradicating, that could be better spent in the schools system and elsewhere. Only 10 percent of all marijuana is actually being eradicated 90 percent of the people out there are still getting away with it anyway. ... Marijuana’s not hurting anybody. Aloha.”

“I think it’s stupid. You should just legalize it already and get all the problems over with.

“If God made it when he made everything else how can it be bad? Our laws in the United States against marijuana are only a couple of hundred of years old. Everywhere else in the world, it’s more readily acceptable.”

“I think the war that we’ve declared on marijuana is an unwinnable war, and I think we should have learned our lesson from Vietnam on that issue. It’s a waste of resources and money. It will do nothing to solve the problem. And, all it’s gonna do it make a bad situation worse. I think in this war a truce should be declared on the war.”

“No, I think marijuana should be decriminalized and the money spent on treating addictions and eradicating harder and more harmful and violent drugs like ice.”

“It’s a matter of people’s right to the pursuit of happiness; leave them alone, let them live, let them pursue happiness. Leave the government out of our business.”

“It’s a big joke. Whenever there’s a demand, there’s going to be a supply. All we can do is educate the youth.”

Eradicating marijuana 24 years and we’re still working on it. What are we going to do? Is it war on citizens or war on a plant?”

One thing that most people do not understand or think about is the effects that a marijuana user has on the family and friends that love that person. Marijuana users isolate themselves from those who love them the most, because these are the people who know about and can see the negative effects as a result of the drug use. I am talking from experience, because I was in a relationship for five years, which all came to an end because of the marijuana use. Those who use this drug really have no real motivation or goals for their future.”

I remember when I moved to the island of Hawaii from Oahu 15 years ago. The best word I can think of to describe Hilo and Puna at that time is ‘thriving.’ Plenty going on, everybody working either in cottage industries or agricultural ventures. You could feel opportunity around you. Everybody helping one another. Homes being built, trucks being bought, all the standard measurements of economic strength and stability self-evident. Now you have super unemployment, crack houses and crack heads all over Hilo and Puna. Nobody has a legal car, no one is building, land values are way down. And while I’m no economist, I think it’s because of the marijuana eradication program. All the money for pot was going into the economy. Now it’s going for crack and it doesn’t appear to be going back into the community.”

I don’t want them to stop eradication of marijuana because I live in the area where they have grown marijuana. And I’m afraid to go into our five-acre property at one time, we found some in there. So don’t stop.”

The first casualty of the war on drugs has been the Bill of Rights. The second has been the law enforcement community, now itself exhibiting a harmful dependence on federal grants and asset forfeiture money. There is no evidence that the war is being won. While some complain that pot-heads are not productive members of society, that itself is not a crime. We don’t arrest people for being lazy. We don’t even arrest ice-cream vendors who sell fat-laced products to people who have heart conditions. We should therefore be consistent and put all that war on drugs money into education and rehabilitation instead of into helicopters and paramilitary incursions into our civil life. ... Legalize marijuana so we can put the illicit, potentially armed and dangerous growers out of business and so we can regulate and tax cannabis in proportion to its social costs, as we currently do tobacco products and alcohol. By legalizing and taxing, we can not only keep better statistics on use and abuse, but pay for the abuse costs through earmarked sin taxes. Drugs which promote violent behavior should remain illegal.”

Khalil J. Spencer, associate specialist, University of Hawaii department of geology and geophysics

Legalizing puts the growers and criminals out of business. The state can profit from a legal crop.”

Dan Nakaso’s front page story bearing the banner ‘War on marijuana bitter, costly, endless’ was missing its last word ‘senseless.’ The U.S. war on drugs is a pretty dismal farce and a real waste of tax dollars. Combine that with a broken justice system, and you get exactly the morass that we have in America today. Thanks for putting this issue on the burner.”

I think the state is doing a darn good job in getting rid of marijuana. Keep up the good work.”

I am 38. I have smoked pakalolo most of my life (since 14). I was an A-B student and I am a college graduate running a major department in a large company, earning good money and raising a fine son. I own a home and am saving for my son’s college education. And all this despite the fact that I’ve been ‘stoned’ most of my life and choose to spend about $200 a month on pot. To me, pakalolo is not an escapist drug. It’s a way to relax.

The war that we’ve declared on marijuana is an unwinnable war and I think we should have learned our lesson from Vietnam on that issue. It’s a waste of resources and money. It will do nothing to solve the problem. And, all it’s gonna do is make a bad situation worse. I think in this war a truce should be declared on the war.”

I am a pot smoker as are many of my friends. The only thing the eradication program has accomplished is to drive the pot prices sky high. But it is still readily available. They will never stop it. People are going to smoke and they’ll always be able to get it. I favor decriminalization and channeling the money into education and rehabilitation for people.”

I saw helicopters flying very low over the trees and it’s very, very disturbing to endangered birds.”

This is absolutely ridiculous that this state funds such a thing as the eradication of marijuana. The most I’ve ever seen anyone attack, coming down off of marijuana, is a bowl of ice cream or bag of cookies. And, coming down off of ice or crack cocaine which is easily available on Oahu you will kill somebody to get some more. So, you know, there’s definitely a greater of two evils there. And, I think they need to spend more money on prevention and treatment rather than storm-trooping people’s houses like Nazis did to Polish people of Poland. I mean, how long are we going to let this go on? There are a lot of cases where these guys have gone storm-trooping into people’s houses only to find out it’s some old lady. I don’t see how they can justify violating people’s civil rights in a war that is not working.”

This week’s articles on marijuana eradication just show me what happens when the majority of people (especially those in power) don’t learn from history. The situation with marijuana eradication today is similar to the alcohol prohibition in the 1920s. When alcohol was banned, there was massive violence between beer cartels (Al Capone was the most famous alcohol lord) and people never stopped drinking. That is because no government law can stop addiction.”

I don’t condone it except for medicinal purposes with a doctor’s recommendation. I think it’s a waste of money to eradicate it when our island has more severe problems with crack cocaine, PCP, ice, heroin, drugs that make you truly psychotic and dangerous.”

Just because we cannot control something doesn’t mean we should legalize it. It can lead to harder drugs. The state should not depend upon growing and selling it to boost the economy.”

I think the program should continue. It’s been my experience that smokers of marijuana or drug abusers are of low moral character.”

“They will never win the war against marijuana since we can all grow it in our homes, in our yards. We have grown it for a friend of ours who had cancer and was nauseated all the time from the chemotherapy. He did eventually die, but it really did help him. I know a lot of things now are grown hydroponically, so that should give us a more secret way to grow it. So it’s a total waste of taxpayers’ money. I know it’s federal money, but it’s a waste.”

If they legalize (marijuana), pretty soon they’re going to legalize heroin, crack, cocaine what’s next, I don’t know. There’s no stopping.”

(I’m) struck by the similarity between the Vietnamese morass we were in and the drug war. When Clark Clifford took over as the secretary of defense, he asked the military what was their goal, and how did they expect to win the war in Vietnam? What they told him dismayed him a lot, because they said they really didn’t have a plan other than just to hold on and keep fighting the fight and see what would happen. I believe this is the same thing that the drug war is doing, and I think that it’s going to come to the same end.”

Twenty-what years? Come on. It’s getting old. Why wage this war that is being lost? Is this one of those government job security things? Put those police officers into other areas.”

Any country that declares war on its own citizens does not deserve to stand. These police have no respect for our Constitution or the people they are supposed to be serving.”

"Our war on this drug is on par with Prohibition. Didn't reduce use whatsover, but just raised the price and made money for 'criminals.'"

"It is perfectly useless to continue to spend huge sums pursuing small growers while inconveniencing and harassing local residents. Surveillance to keep large growers out of business should perhaps continue as it seems to have decreased the level of violence which existed previously. ... The best solution would be for marijuana to be made legal and regulated like other addictive and unhealthy substances (tobacco and alcohol come to mind). It would be better for the state to get its share of revenue from the sale of pot rather than to continue with the present underground economy."

"I am a strong supporter of the legalization of marijuana. I myself used to smoke it but have quit for several years now. If regulated and even taxed it would be viable to legalize it. ... I do believe someday it will be legal to posses a small quantity of marijuana for one's own use.

"I don't even smoke pot and they hassle me and everyone around here. If you ever went to a council meeting when they discuss pot, you'd hear some horror stories about those helicopter commandos. ... In 1998 there was 4.5 million dollars in theft on the Big Island, locals ripping things off, mainly to be able to afford pot. The rise in theft, costing residents millions, is directly proportionate to the stepping up of helicopter activity. The more the cops rip off people's plants, the higher the cost of pot and the more theft this causes.

"Simply decriminalize all statutes that focus on victimless crimes such as possession of small amounts of pakalolo. Period. Doing this would free-up an awful lot of well-trained, dedicated police and security officers to go after the rapists, muggers, murderers and other sociopaths in our midst instead of wasting their time pulling up harmless weeds.

Anson Chong, adjunct lecturer in economics & political science, Hawaii Community College

"Stopping drug use isn't done by marijuana eradication or putting people in jail just because they have cocaine in their pockets. Stopping drug use is done by rehabilitation, family counseling and teaching the kids about the effects of using drugs (something not emphasized enough in the schools) and help kids know the helpful effects of resisting peer pressure as well as the harmful effects of not resisting peer pressure."

"The fact that marijuana is illegal is the reason for the associated crime. If marijuana were decriminalized, what would be the rationale for one grower to assault another grower, or a hiker? ... It would be like mangos or tomatos; how often do people sneak into others' yards to steal those? ... If we take the crime out of marijuana, the associated crimes go away.

"OK, pot is bad and is a gateway drug. I think we all know that this is a huge load of crap. If there really is such a thing as a gateway drug, then let's be real and acknowledge that that prize would go to alcohol and cigarettes."

"As a 59 year old businessman with a thriving business and a career of successful employment back to my teens, I enjoyed an occasional joint back in the '60s and '70s & never at any time did it threaten addiction nor tempt me toward harder drugs. In fact, quite the opposite, the grass available was so good, much of it home grown by friends, that there was no temptation to try anything else."

"I remember as a sixth-grader in an Oahu public elementary school, pot was available and experimented with, but I would have to say the vast majority of my classmates have gone on to healthy, drug-free lives (myself included). The question the state should be asking itself is, should they focus their efforts on the dangerous hard drugs, ice, cocaine and heroin while letting the very benign drug marijuana run its course."

"The war on Cannabis is creating the problems it claims to be solving. Violent crime, abuse of hard drugs, and experimentation with 'marijuana' by teens are all made worse by prohibition, creating a global black market in a God-given herb that's impossible to control."

Paul von Hartmann, Project P.E.A.C.E. (Planet Ecology Advancing Conscious Economics )

"Greed runs the drug war. Greed for money. The prisons have turned in to a multi-billion-dollar-a-year industry. The drug-testing industry is approaching a billion dollars a year. The budgets for law enforcement, Customs, the INS, the CIA, the FBI, and the DEA, all in the billions per year. They all lobby Congress for more money, saying they are gaining in the drug war. But the only thing that gets accomplished is taking away our personal freedoms guaranteed us in the Constitution."

I feel that if marijuana is used for medical use only should be approved. I saw my husband & die of cancer. If this will ease the pain in the last stages of there cancer to help keep them comfortable. My approval is for this purpose.

"If we were to apply the same tax we put on booze or tobacco (pick one) to marijuana, how much revenue could we generate? As legitimate business people, the growers and sellers would have to declare their incomes (more tax dollars). All of this is, of course, moot as long as there are federal laws against cannabis possession."

"The War on Drugs has been more deleterious to both our society and to its individuals than misuse of every illegal drug combined. The U.S. government shouldn't have contrived to make what is essentially a public health and civil liberty issue into a civil war. Drug treatment is more effective and far, far less expensive."

For 10 years I have been under constant surveillance some time every three weeks by helicopters , with people pointing guns at me. Just because I have a coffee farm in Kona. ... Yes, it is true, we have created a monster, a police state where you are always quilty. if you own a farm, always under the gun."

-- Robert H. Faust, Ph.D. Agroecologist, Faust Bio-Agricultural Services, Inc., Honaunau

"I know pot growers who are delighted that marijuana is illegal because it creates enormous profits. I know casual pot users who are productive, hardworking citizens. Our nation is spending billions of dollars and locking up hundreds of thousands of citizens to prosecute a victimless crime. ... I'm a former pot user and the son of a recovering alcohol and tobacco abuser. I find it ironic that our government allows us to buy dangerous and even deadly drugs like alcohol and cigarettes at the grocery store, but will throw us in prison if they catch us smoking a joint."