You may recall the recent Nancy Cook Lauer front page article (I was smoking my pipe!) about my landlord enforcing a new policy that kupuna with a state-issued medical cannabis card will be made homeless if they use their medication in the privacy of their own apartment.
Since then I filed a lawsuit in the local 3rd Circuit Court asking it to make a declaratory judgment that I have a right under the Hawaii Constitution to use medical cannabis in my own home. That right was given to us when in 1978 the voters overwhelmingly approved article I, section 6: “The right of the people to privacy is recognized and shall not be infringed without the showing of a compelling state interest. The legislature shall take affirmative steps to implement this right.”
What possible “compelling state interest” would cause the Hawaii County government to work actively to thwart state law about the use of medical cannabis by a 78-year-old disabled kupuna? I asked the Office of Housing and Community Development for an accommodation under the Americans With Disabilities Act to allow my medication. What was mayor (the buck stops here) Kim’s response? He has ignored me.
On the assumption that his corporation counsel doesn’t do anything the mayor disapproves of, how has the mayor reacted to my situation? Not only has he completely ignored me, but I just learned that his corporation counsel filed papers in the U.S. District Court to remove my local court lawsuit to the federal court. Why? Because they think the federal court is more likely to support the federal prejudice against cannabis. This is on top of the deputy corporation counsel who on the front page of West Hawaii Today a couple of weeks ago lied to you (the public) about federal law, which allows local discretion concerning the use of medical cannabis in section 8 kupuna housing projects.
Finally, almost to add insult to injury, I just got an email from Councilwoman Karen Eoff’s office. Ms. Eoff is the chair this year of the County Housing Agency (which consists of the whole council). I had asked her to please convene a meeting of the agency to allow for public comment leading to the agency establishing a county policy that no landlord can prevent a tenant in public housing from using legally prescribed medical cannabis. The mayor’s response was to order Councilmember Eoff to tell me: “We’ve been informed that we are to direct your calls to the Office of the Corporation Counsel while your complaint against the County of Hawaii is pending.”
So much for my rights under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and article I, section 4 of the Hawaii Constitution, allowing me to “petition the government for a redress of grievances.”
Is this why we elected Mayor Kim? I am asking each of you to please call 961-8211 and tell the mayor what you think about making kupuna homeless instead of letting them use their lawfully prescribed medication in the privacy of their own homes.
Lanric Hyland is a resident of Kapaau