Proposed pot rules have
religion bias, opponents say

Police to let courts decide if
religious use of pot is legitimate

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By Rod Thompson
rthompson@starbulletin.com

KAILUA-KONA >> Proposed Hawaii County Police rules on marijuana investigations fail to protect the rights of religious users of the drug, opponents contend.

Police will take testimony at the main Kona police station starting at 10 a.m. tomorrow on a second draft of rules dealing with eradication and medical marijuana.

But attention is expected to focus on new wording on religious use, which says police shall make an arrest if they have good cause, and the arresting officers should not try to decide the validity of the arrested person's religion. That would be left to the courts.

The Rev. Dennis Shields of the Religion of Jesus Church said that contrasts with proposed rules dealing with medical use, which say officers should check whether a person is a registered medical marijuana user before making an arrest.

In effect, the medical user gets the benefit of the doubt but the religious user does not, Shields said.

Jerry Rothstein, a practitioner of the YnitedCannabist religion, said there is no cause to arrest religious users because the U.S. Constitution protects religious freedom.

In February, the Hawaii County Council directed police to write marijuana rules as a condition for receiving federal eradication money. The directive included consideration of marijuana possession, "which may be protected" by laws and the Constitution.

Rothstein said the proposed rules reverse that directive by calling for an arrest first and review of rights afterwards.

Councilwoman Bobby Jean Leithead-Todd, who agrees with the proposed rules, said that religion is a defense.

"Whether that is a legitimate defense is not up to police to determine," she said.