 Advertiser special: Chasing Smoke — Hawai'i's 24-year war on pot
By Hugh Clark
Advertiser Big Island Bureau
HILO, Hawai‘i — The Hawai‘i County Council Finance Committee voted 6-2 yesterday to recommend accepting a $160,377 federal grant to support helicopter raids on illegal marijuana patches.
Those raids were suspended last year after the council refused to accept a $265,000 Federal Drug Enforcement Administration grant because of fear of retribution by pro-marijuana leaders.
The current grant still requires approval by the full council next month.
Kona council members Curtis Tyler III and Nancy Pisicchio voted against the grant and the others voted in favor, several saying to reject it again would send "the wrong message to our children."
Councilwoman Bobby Jean Leithead-Todd indicated she was approving the grant to avoid returning to the outlaw days of the 1970s, when growers terrorized campers, hikers and other outdoors enthusiasts.
The vote came against a background of disbelief and anger that accepting the federal grant was still even a consideration. The council rejected the federal grant last August after pro-marijuana leaders threatened lawsuits and impeachments.
Under the county charter, public money cannot be used to defend council members against removal actions. Efforts to obtain an insurance policy failed. The decision in August was the first time in two decades that the county turned down federal assistance for marijuana eradication.
Fifteen speakers spent more than three hours commenting on the issue. Only Virginia Towle of Kona’s Crime Prevention Committee endorsed the grant proposal, saying she did not want the Big Island to become the "pot capital of the world."
The grant would cost the county a 20 percent share under the joint agreement. Most of the money — $117,000 — would be used to rent helicopters while $21,000 would pay for police overtime and hazardous-duty pay.
Councilwoman Julie Jacobson of Puna and Kona did not take part in the vote, having left the meeting room after a dispute with committee chairman Aaron Chung. He ruled her out of order as she tried to discuss a magazine article about national drug enforcement policies.
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