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My latest column for the Big Island Chronicle.@@@
Aloha Puna friends and neighbors,
The GIANT wave of all things Cannabis hemp and "marijuana" is fast evolving in much of the world and it's eventually coming this way. It's sadly way too late for us to be 'leaders' in this healthy, wealthy and happy movement, but at least we need to know the whole truth of what the future may bring us and who continues to block it. Some of the big questions I have are; WHEN is legalization coming to Hawai'i, HOW will it be structured and regulated and WHO will benefit the most?
A few weeks ago I had a conversation with a large mainland company (www.hempmeds.com) that makes and sells Cannabis hemp CBD oils and other hemp products. I was told that their company recently negotiated long-term leases on "hundreds of thousands of organic acres" in eastern Europe. They say on their website that they legally grow, process, sell and ship CBD hemp oil and other CBD oil products to residents in all 50 U.S. states and 40 foreign countries.
You might have heard of a special strain of low-THC, high-CBD Cannabis called "Charlotte's Web" created by the Stanley brothers of Colorado and popularized by Dr. Sanjay Gupta on his CNN Specials WEED 1, WEED 2 and WEED 3. When processed into oil this strain of Cannabis has been saving the lives of severely sick children suffering from Dravet's Syndrome epilepsy, and other diseases. Now Charlotte's Web Hemp Oil is legally available on www.amazon.com (!) meaning that families with sick children can stay in their home state and help to heal their kids with a safe and natural plant oil instead of moving to Colorado for legal access, or using dangerous, toxic pharmaceuticals that don't work.
Two weeks ago I had a face-to-face conversation with a large land owner from the Big Island. She told me that "land scouts" from Colorado Cannabis companies have been here looking to find and secure long-term leases on organic acres with abundant sun, water, privacy and access for the coming Cannabis economy. The offer she heard? $60,000. per acre / per year; just sign the deal and once a year sign the check. Can this be true?
One group that continues to irrationally block the implementation of medical marijuana dispensaries and the legalization of Cannabis hemp, or marijuana in Hawai'i is the Hawaii County Police Department. On Thursday some of us who went to County Council to testify and 'speak our truth to power' to block funding for the H.P.D. for the coming year heard Chief Kubojiri tell what sounded like a big, fat lie on-the-record. He said that there's no need for medical marijuana dispensaries in Hawaii County because out of the approximately 6,000 legal medical marijuana patients here "only 12 have said that they would use a dispensary". Really Chief? If I heard you right I don't believe you. Did you just lie to the Hawaii County Council and to "We the people" who you swore an oath to defend and protect?
To prepare for my testimony to the Council I looked at the websites of the Hawaii County Police Department and S.H.O.P.O., the State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers. I entered "medical marijuana" in the search box of both sites and came-up with the same answer, "0 results". What this tells me is that H.P.D. and S.H.O.P.O. still don't acknowledge or honor medical marijuana in Hawai'i even after it's been legal for 15 years. They purposely deny or omit the truth in order to falsely inflate the need for their services in order to get more money and manpower to fight their unnecessary and counter-productive "war on marijuana".
Look-up Hegelian dialectic. Hegel's dialectic is reportedly the tool which manipulates us into a frenzied circular pattern of thought and action like we witness annually at the County Council. The only way I know of to stop or reduce the privacy invasions, expanding domestic police powers, land grabs, insane wars against inanimate objects, covert actions, and outright assaults on individual liberty here is to step outside of the dialectic by shining a big light on it and demanding a Mandatory Program Review according to Hawaii County Charter Section 3-16. This theoretically could release us from the mind control and guided thought we've been perpetually locked into by unconsciously supporting and funding the local "war on marijuana".
"S.H.O.P.O. must go!" I don't know about you, but I want S.H.O.P.O. to disband. I want our police officers to have to stand on their own merit. I want it really easy and transparent to fire any officer - for cause - who has a unique license to kill us. I also want us to stay clear of becoming part of a national police force. Home rule is the way to go.
When did the "men in blue" turn into the "men in black"? Our H.P.D. Officers now wear black uniforms instead of the customary blue. To me this is a telling sign that they are 'going dark' on "We the people" who pay their comfortable salaries and generous benefits.
Remember to keep questioning authority; Silence = consent. We can only be the 'land of the free' if we are first 'the home of the brave'. Be brave!
About 12 of us who went to the County Council for their 1:30 p.m. budget hearing on Thursday the 23rd were blocked from testifying by the County Clerk and the Council Chairwoman Karen Eoff. Apparently over the last five years (while I was in federal prison for 50 months for running our state-licensed THC Ministry) our Hawaii County Council passed a rule to reduce public access and influence. We were told that we had to come back on Friday morning to testify when the Committee continued its business, however at that time the police would not be there as their budget hearing was scheduled for Thursday afternoon. Huh? Really? Where's the aloha? Where's our government of the people, by the people and for the people? I want it back.
One other important change I noticed about the remodeled Council Chambers - there's no more podium to stand at and testify. The new design requires that people testifying sit at the table in front of the room with our back to the audience and at a lower level than the Council members 'above us'. No more "Standing-up to government" here. Subtle, but effective manipulation in the negative. I want the public's podium back.
Still, it's great to be back on the island and relatively free. I'm grateful that we're still free enough to redress our grievances to a relatively free press (thanks, Tiffany) and to do so in a relatively free country.
Lots of love to everyone,
Roger Christie
www.thc-ministry.org
www.the-last-marijuana-trial.com
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