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Big Isle rejects Big Island police fear the county's marijuana problem will grow out of control now that the department has lost 67 percent of the funding for its eradication program.
anti-marijuana funds
A federal grant is returned
amid lawmakers' fears
of possible impeachmentBy Treena Shapiro
Star-BulletinA $265,000 grant from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency would have paid for rental helicopters, overtime for police officers, training, equipment and community presentations aimed at reducing demand for marijuana.
But the police department returned the check yesterday after the Hawaii County Council failed to find insurance to cover potential legal fees.
The Council had earlier agreed to accept the grant if it was able to use a portion of the money to buy insurance to pay their legal fees in case of possible impeachment. Last year, marijuana advocates brought impeachment charges against the Big Island mayor and six Council members alleging faulty regulation of the eradication program.
A Circuit Court judge dismissed the case on technical grounds but invited the marijuana advocates to resubmit their petition for impeachment at later date.
Insurance companies said it was like trying to offer protection against a past action and wouldn't cover the Council because it accepted the grant, according to county purchasing agent Bill Gray.
"I don't blame the insurance companies," he said. "I think the underwriters just couldn't get a handle on this thing."
The Big Island's "Green Harvest" eradication program has generated criticism about noise, invasion of privacy, health concerns because of poison used on the plants, and ineffectiveness.
Police feel, however, the program has kept marijuana growers in check, said Lt. Henry Tavares Jr. of the Vice Division.
"Because the number of plants has remained constant throughout the years, we have control over the problem," he said. "Obviously we will never eliminate the problem, but we feel as if we have control over it."
The loss of federal money will change that, he said.
"Without the grant, I expect the marijuana market to be flooded," he said. "Availability will increase. The numbers in the school will increase. There will be more widespread use in general." And Tavares expects more public complaint that the eradication efforts are taking officers away from investigating hard drugs.
Marijuana advocate Roger Christie said his group is continuing full speed ahead with impeachment, but that didn't stop him from celebrating the return of the grant.
"It's harvest time now, so this is the perfect time for this thing to have happened. Marijuana eradication and prohibition is on thin ice and it's global warming time," he cheered.
Christie said the hampered eradication program will be good for the county.
"I think the economy will start coming back here," he said. Other perceived benefits are decrease in hard drug consumption, alcohol use and domestic abuse.
There will also be an "increase in the people's right to privacy and the quiet enjoyment of their property, an increase in music and the social and cultural atmosphere, and the hope for a glorious future," he said.
Councilman Aaron Chung concedes that more marijuana on the market could mean more cash flowing through the island, which could help the economy. "I'm still hoping for the best," he said. "Maybe the eradication opponents are correct. It might be a good thing for the community."
But Chung fears other consequences of a diminished eradication program, particularly growers using booby traps and terroristic measures to protect their crops. Since police will have to search for plants on the ground instead of by air, marijuana growers may try to protect their crops with hidden traps and guns, he said. "I just don't want to revisit the horrible time we had in the '70s," he said.
Chung doesn't support drug use of any kind. "I believe marijuana is the gateway drug," he said.