Medical marijuana backer to run as Green candidate
| • | Anderson to run for governor, this time as Democrat |
By Kevin Dayton
Advertiser Capitol Bureau Chief
Big Island resident Jon Adler, a well-known advocate for the legalization of marijuana, said he plans to run for governor as a member of the Hawai'i Green Party.
Adler, 49, ran unsuccessfully as a nonpartisan candidate for Big Island mayor in 1996; for Big Island County Council in 1998; and again for Big Island mayor in 2000.
Adler owns Big Island Steel, a building supply company, and is executive director of the Hawai'i Medical Marijuana Institute. The institute provides marijuana to people who say they need marijuana for medical purposes, a practice which has gotten Adler into trouble with the law.
An outspoken advocate of the use of marijuana for religious and medicinal purposes, Adler has been charged with commercial promotion of marijuana, a felony. His first trial on the charge ended in a mistrial in Hilo Circuit Court in September, and Adler now faces a new trial.
