Mayor Apana and County Council, it's almost time for election, right? Where are the juvenile substance-abuse programs you promised. It's so bad and there's no detention home, no boot camp here, also no in-house drug court for juveniles. I sure hope whoever will be our next mayor will start his job right.

Come on, people, you need to voice your feelings about juvenile substance abuse. Big Island, Honolulu get everything. We taxpayers have nothing here in Maui for our children and grandchildren.

[continues 74 words]

Carl Kaikaina Allegedly Falsified Drug Test Results At A Former Job

A federal grand jury has indicted a former employee of Drug Addiction Services of Hawaii on charges of soliciting and accepting bribes to alter the urine test results of a defendant on supervised release and an undercover FBI agent.

Carl Hauoli Kaikaina, 48, of the University area was charged Thursday in a secret indictment with five counts of bribery and three counts of making a false statement.

At his initial appearance in U.S. District Court yesterday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Tracy Hino told the court that Kaikaina has admitted to altering test results for other individuals as well.

[continues 438 words]

HILO - A couple of medical marijuana cardholders who were arrested and had their plants seized recently were among several people who testified Tuesday at a council Finance Committee meeting.

A video of last month's arrests of John and Rhonda Robison and Kealoha "Kea" Wells, and the seizure of 20 marijuana plants, also was played for councilmembers.

Wells, 30, and John Robison, 36, hold Department of Public Safety-issued medical marijuana cards as they suffer from acute lymphocytic leukemia. Rhonda Robison, 31, holds a medical marijuana card for her Charco-Marie-Tooth muscular dystrophy.

[continues 807 words]

Lots of things have changed in the three years since lawmakers authorized Gov . Ben Cayetano to negotiate directly with developers to build a new jail.

So much so, in fact, that they now should retract that authorization and go back to Square 1.

Not only has the state's financial ability to build major new facilities eroded, but it appears a promising new corrections philosophy is evolving.

Moreover, while we generally admire measures that allow projects to get done quickly and efficiently without legislative micromanagement, we're afraid the public is too much in the dark about the bidding process, not to mention the location, scope of operations and even the price, for the jail.

[continues 486 words]

HILO -- Just when it seemed that a marijuana conviction would knock Natural Law Party candidate Jonathan Adler out of the race for governor, Adler has found wording in state law that he says may keep him running.

Adler, 50, was convicted in June of felony commercial promotion of marijuana for possessing 89 marijuana plants in 1998. His sentencing is set for Aug. 26.

Once sentencing is completed, it was believed he would be barred from running.

But the law says a person convicted of a felony may not file to run for elective office, Adler says in a letter to state elections chief Dwayne Yoshina.

[continues 248 words]

Party Officials Are Not Happy About The Efforts Of 2 Candidates

A marijuana advocate and a local comedian are not the Natural Law Party's ideal candidates.

But for Green Party rejects Jonathan Adler and Kaui Hill -- better known as Bu La'ia -- the Natural Law party is the best vehicle for getting one of them to the general election in the race for governor.

"We have two candidates running this time that don't support our platform," said Natural Law Party Chairwoman Laurie Clegg.

[continues 724 words]

HONOLULU (AP) -- The chairwoman of Hawaii's Natural Law Party is concerned about the two candidates the party has running for its gubernatorial nomination. One is a marijuana advocate and the other a performing comedian.

Both marijuana advocate Jonathan Adler of the Big Island and local comedian Kaui Hill -- a Maui resident who performs as Bu La'ia -- have their own agendas, says Laurie Clegg.

''We have two candidates running this time that don't support our platform,'' she said, accusing Adler and Hill of using the party just to get on the November ballot. ''It's very disappointing for us because our party has very high ideals.''

[continues 305 words]

Our country seemingly remains hellbent on wasting billions of dollars year after year on the longest war in U.S. history.

Current drug policy has created vicious and ever expanding criminal networks that corrupt society, including police forces, and cause far worse damage and destruction than the substances being regulated. It is the war against drugs, not the drugs themselves, which has turned drug dealing into an enormous profit making machine, resulting in gangs and cartels killing each other and innocent members of their communities in the pursuit of the dollar.

[continues 210 words]

Mike Coleman's Aug. 4 op-ed piece was on target. The drug war is not the promoter of family values that some would have us believe. Children of inmates are at risk of educational failure, joblessness, addiction and delinquency. Not only do the children lose out, but society, too. Incarcerating nonviolent drug offenders alongside hardened criminals is the equivalent of providing them with a taxpayer-funded education in anti-social behavior.

Turning recreational drug users into unemployable ex-cons is a senseless waste of tax dollars. It's time to declare peace in the failed drug war and begin treating all substance abuse, legal or otherwise, as the public health problem it is.

Destroying the futures and families of citizens who make unhealthy choices doesn't benefit anyone.

Robert Sharpe, M.P.A., Program Officer, Drug Policy Alliance

Washington, D.C.

[end]

Dear Editor,

How can we trust or believe that a ruler who is increasing his family fortune through pharmaceutical and oil investments is actually working in the best interests of the people, when our best interests would cost his family and friends billions of dollars?

What is in our best interest is to start to preserve our planet and reduce global warming. Terrorism cannot destroy all existence of life on Earth. Burning fossil fuels is.

In our best interest, we would be encouraged to grow the only substance known to man that can replace every paper, plastic and fossil fuel product. That would save trees, stop acid rain, and reverse the Greenhouse Effect. But, that would ruin his oil investments.

[continues 245 words]

Editor:

As a Neighborhood Watch-Captain on Middle Keei Road, I would like to add emphasis to the informative letter by Charles Flaherty regarding marijuana helicopters and the real drug problem of "ice" and "crack." We have talked about this many times at our Neighborhood Watch meetings. We do not need police and their resources flying around in helicopters. We do need police and their resources, on the ground.

It is not the people using marijuana who are breaking into houses. It is not the people using marijuana who are causing domestic and public violence. It is people who are using "ice" and "crack." True, the county and Police Department get federal money for flying around, but they are doing nothing to safeguard our neighborhoods. They are only adding to statistics. If they are really serious about attacking the drug problem, then listen to the public and even their own officers.

[continues 77 words]

And the moron of the week award goes to Christopher S. Ovitt, executive director of the Democratic Party of Hawaii! He writes (Letters, Aug. 5) that Democrats want to build a bright future for Hawaii where everyone shares in the prosperity. Oh please!

There have always been poor folks, and there have always been the rich. It will always be that way. The Democratic Party is the party of procrastination. We, the people, want action now.

We want the washed-out, degenerate, drug-addicted bums and scrubs removed from public streets and bushes. We need more funding from Washington to pay for more patrol officers and special drug task forces eager to destroy criminal intentions. Perhaps we could pass a law that bans any loud music emitting from cars that makes people cringe within a 50-foot radius.

[continues 105 words]

A Felony Sentencing, However, Will Keep Adler Out Of This Year's Race For Governor

Jonathan Adler, a Big Island medical marijuana advocate and Natural Law Party candidate for governor, has another court date Monday.

But this time, he's going there to pick up about an ounce of marijuana that a state judge has ordered returned to him.

Adler, 50, said he has an 8 a.m. appointment at Hilo District Court to pick up his "personal property" after District Judge Jeffrey Choi granted Adler's motion for the return of a Tupperware container and the marijuana. A court clerk confirmed the judge's order for return of the marijuana.

[continues 383 words]

Big Isle Candidate Uses Marijuana For Treatment Of Pain

HILO (AP) -- One of Hawaii's 20 candidates for governor has the right to get back nearly an ounce of marijuana seized by police from his wife last October, a judge has ruled.

Jonathan Adler, a Natural Law Party candidate convicted last month of possessing more than 50 marijuana plants and drug paraphernalia, has to wait until Monday for the court to release the 27 grams of marijuana Adler contends he uses for treatment of chronic pain.

[continues 342 words]

The statistics are sobering: "More than 90 percent of all child - abuse cases are directly related to ice," said Don Bebee, executive director of Family Support Services of West Hawaii.

"It's a huge problem and it's growing," said County Councilwoman Nancy Pisicchio, who has been involved in organizing community awareness.

>From awareness to prevention, treatment and successful prosecution, that's the trajectory of two major conferences taking place later this month along the Kohala Coast.

More than 250 health, social service and law enforcement professionals have signed up for a conference Aug. 14 - 15 at the Outrigger Waikoloa, twice the number anticipated, conference organizers said.

[continues 328 words]

Our country seemingly remains hell-bent on continuing to waste billions of dollars year after year on the longest waged war in U.S. history. Prison systems are overflowing with drug users and low level drug dealers; incarceration of youth is given a higher priority than educating them; and a huge and costly governmental/ corporate complex is erected, ostensibly designed to wage a war against drugs, but, in reality, completely dependent on the continued presence of "the enemy" in order to justify its very existence.

[continues 471 words]

HILO - Councilmembers next week will take up a marijuana eradication mission report that states 14,425 plants were seized in June.

Comparing that to the 3,133 plants seized in the May missions, Police Lt. Henry Tavares noted police have moved into what they consider to be the "peak season" for marijuana growing.

Tavares, who leads the Hilo Vice section, said that season runs from June to September.

More plants are eradicated during this time period because the height of the plants makes them easier to spot from the helicopter, he said.

[continues 221 words]

There is much sad truth in Mike Coleman's recent column on the deplorable conditions in America's prisons. Unfortunately, Coleman begins his piece with the inaccurate claim that our prisons are full of nonviolent victims of the so-called "War on Drugs."

According to the latest statistics, more than half of state prisoners are doing time for homicide, rape or other violent crimes. Another 40 percent are recidivist career criminals who may have gotten probation on their previous offenses but ended up back behind bars.

[continues 133 words]

Since President Richard Nixon launched the "War on Drugs" 30-odd years ago, one thousand prisons have been built and our prisoner population, fueled by the drug-related offenders who have dominated it from that day to this, has skyrocketed from 200,000 to more than 2 million.

There are 5.7 million Americans -- one in 50 -- on parole, probation or behind bars. The Land of the Free imprisons more of its citizens than any nation on Earth, and the long-term impact of this social holocaust has yet to be determined: there is no parallel for it in human history.

[continues 1035 words]

Some may view the new policy of HPD handling crowing roosters to be a substantial waste of law enforcement's time. Not necessarily.

Just take Wahiawa, for example. Many of those who have these nuisance animals within urban settings, may also likely be involved in the "ice" business, burglary, re-selling of stolen property, violations of parole, open warrants and other crimes against residents.

When these birds go off at 2:30 a.m., I'm all for HPD making "unannounced" visits to these dwellings and cleaning house.

It ain't just about the chickens.

Kevin Gagan

[end]