Posted on: Friday, July 13, 2001

Adler faces new marijuana charges

By Hugh Clark
Advertiser Big Island Bureau

HILO, Hawai'i — A minister and former mayoral candidate who says he grows marijuana for religious and medical purposes called himself a victim of "Big Island political persecution" following his indictment Wednesday on eight felony drug counts.

Jonathan Adler, 49, of Puna, already is awaiting trial Aug. 20 for second-degree promotion of marijuana from a 1998 arrest.

The latest grand jury indictment charges him with commercial promotion of marijuana, six counts of promoting a detrimental drug and one count of possessing drug paraphernalia.

Adler, who ran for mayor twice and also tried for a seat on the Hawai'i County Council, believes his outspokenness about citizens' rights to use marijuana for medical and religious reasons has made him a target for prosecution.

"I operate a healing ministry" said Adler, a minister in the The Religion of Jesus Church, which uses marijuana as a sacrament. The church started on Kaua'i and later moved to Kona and the east side of the Big Island.

"There is no crime on my property, except that created by the police," Adler claimed yesterday.

He said the latest charges stem from a Dec. 23, 1999, visit by an undercover officer who lied to him about being a member of the church and about needing relief for back pain.

Adler has been a highly visible advocate for marijuana legalization for more than a decade. He was among those who sought to impeach former Mayor Steven Yamashiro and the majority of the council members in 1999 over county drug enforcement policies.