Pubdate: Thu, 07 Dec 2017
Source: Honolulu Star-Advertiser (HI)
Copyright: 2017 Star Advertiser
Contact: 
http://www.staradvertiser.com/info/Star-Advertiser_Letter_to_the_Editor.html
Website: http://www.staradvertiser.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/5154
Author: Kristen Consillio

HPD IN ERROR OVER CANNABIS PATIENTS WITH GUNS, CHIEF SAYS

"Merely having a medical marijuana card doesn't mean you're using
marijuana. We can't prove you're using marijuana. Our practice of
having them turn in their firearms was incorrect," Honolulu police
Chief Susan Ballard said of her department's controversial policy
requiring medical marijuana patients to relinquish their guns.

Honolulu police Chief Susan Ballard said her department's
controversial policy requiring medical marijuana patients to
relinquish their guns was wrong.

"It is not illegal to possess the ones you already have," Ballard told
the Honolulu Police Commission on Wednesday. "Merely having a medical
marijuana card doesn't mean you're using marijuana. We can't prove
you're using marijuana. Our practice of having them turn in their
firearms was incorrect."

The department is returning firearms to two people who voluntarily
relinquished their guns, Ballard said.

However, HPD will continue to deny new gun permits for medical
marijuana patients while it reviews a policy that went into effect in
September 2016.

The reconsideration follows community backlash since the Honolulu
Star-Advertiser reported last week that HPD sent letters to at least
30 gun owners, saying they had 30 days to bring in or transfer
ownership of all firearms.

There were 35 gun permit denials for cannabis patients so far this
year, HPD records show.

Ballard also said five HPD officers have been authorized to verify
Department of Health marijuana registry records for firearms permit
applicants, though confidential patient information is not released in
that process.

Retired state Supreme Court Justice Steven Levinson, a member of the
Police Commission, questioned why the department was denying firearm
permits for marijuana patients but not people using much stronger
prescription drugs.

"I'm a little puzzled as to why the distinction between medical
marijuana and medical opioids," he told Ballard.

"I really can't answer that question," she said. "The main thing is
what federal law is telling us."

Federal law prohibits an "unlawful user" of any controlled substance
from possessing firearms, and under federal law, marijuana is a
controlled substance. Ballard said that includes caregivers of
cannabis patients with marijuana cards.

"I recognize the conundrum," said Commissioner Loretta Ann Sheehan.
"(But) respectfully it seems ridiculous. Keeping your old guns
violates federal law. That doesn't make any sense at all."

Carl Bergquist, executive director of the Drug Policy Forum of Hawaii,
testified before the commission that HPD should revisit the policy
since medical cannabis is legal under state law.

"On behalf of physicians, nurses, caregivers and patients involved in
the medical cannabis program, the assumption that they're all impaired
or a danger to society is a great insult," he said. "A policy like
this could push people out of the regulated system. We think these
patients should not be stigmatized in this fashion."
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