Why was the seller even charged?
I reference the article in West Hawaii Today printed on Oct. 8 regarding a visitor from Washington State being arrested. The charge? Selling drugs to the “victim.” Why was the person who ordered, and presumably paid for the drugs not charged? Perhaps because he died. He died because of his own stupidity. No one held a gun to his head and directed that he consume the drug(s). So why was the seller charged?
If I willingly decided to take more than the prescribed dose of one of my regulated prescriptions, would the prescribing doctor or pharmacist be charged? I doubt it. How about if I died, would the same charges be filed against these two responsible parties?
I wonder if a bartender sold some alcohol to an adult, and that adult decided to drive and injure or kill some pedestrian, would the person selling the product be subsequently charged? Or how about the seller of tobacco products, should (s)he be guilty of a crime as well? What about the cigarette manufacturer? No. Then why was this person arrested and charged if the end user did so willingly?
Why then is it permissible to charge the seller, or even the manufacturer of the drug, but not the user?
Perhaps this would be a great way to take care of the illegal drug problem — just let more people die because of their own stupidity.
Michael L. Last
Na‘alehu
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Leaving citizens in the dust
The two planning commissioners from Na‘alehu have spoken: Like it or not, there will be a new institution above Hilo Medical Center. On the bright side, that complex will have a self-contained wastewater system. This new disposal paradigm is good. It leaves our inept county department out of the picture. It saves the rest of us money because the developer pays for their own infrastructure. They will own and operate it.
Going south, Na‘alehu has rumors of a similar development on the old Hutchison sugar plantation property. On the contrary, the county has spent so much money on those municipal sewer plans that nobody wants to audit the boondoggle.
The Hilo project and the Ka’u project are both still on the drawing board. They might change into privately owned relocation centers.
Our local government is changed, too. Zoom meetings leave common citizens in the dust. Now, the only county facility where people of like minds can assemble and share ideas is in jail.
Jerry Warren
Na‘alehu
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