Big Island residents protest drug raids

By Hugh Clark
Advertiser Big Island Bureau

HILO, Hawai'i — Big Island residents in Kona and Puna are up in arms over recent raids that some claim are targeted against medical marijuana permit holders.

Honolulu attorney Jack Schweigert yesterday said he plans to file a lawsuit in Kona's Circuit Court next week on behalf of at least three victims of the raids. He said they appear to be the focus of "frustrated police who have not yet accepted the state law."

Police and county officials denied they're targeting medical marijuana users.

But three Kona residents were arrested July 8 and a Puna man said he was the victim of a helicopter police raid on Thursday. Each have state-issued cards allowing them to grow and possess marijuana to treat their ailments.

In Kona, three people at one house were arrested, but not charged, for having 11 mature plants instead of the nine they were eligible to grow under three medical marijuana permits managed by the state's Public Safety Department.

Rhonda Robison, 32, who holds a permit to use marijuana for hereditary muscular dystrophy, said it was the third time her household was invaded by police when her three children her home.

Also arrested was husband John Robison, whose leukemia is in remission, as well as long-term houseguest Kealoaha Wells, who had returned the weekend before from three weeks of chemotherapy on O'ahu.

Although police said they confiscated mature plants only, Rhonda Robison said the officers were mistaken. Just because the plants were beginning to flower doesn't mean they are ready to harvest, she said.

State law allows medical marijuana users to have three mature plants, four immature plants and 3 ounces of dried marijuana.

Police said they were aware that the Robisons and Wells had a medical marijuana permit, but were simply responding to a complaint that they were growing marijuana on the property.

After consulting with the Public Safety Deparment and the Hawai'i County prosecutor's office, officers returned 1.5 ounces of marijuana to the trio, but not the plants.

On Thursday, retired accountant Guy Shepard of Puna's Leilani Estates said three of his plants were seized by officers who dropped from a helicopter while he raced into his home to retrieve his medical card.

Shepard, 60, who describes himself as having a back problem and a hip ailment caused by a 1991 bicycle crash in Ka'u, said one plant was returned but it already had been cut and was therefore of no value to him.

Big Island marijuana advocate Dennis Shields said Big Island police have gotten overzealous in their crusade against marijuana.

"They're bullies with badges who beat up on sick people," he said. "We have an ice epidemic on this island, and they're going after marijuana. The police department is out of control."

Advertiser staff writer Timothy Hurley contributed to this report.