this bill is unconstutional and is a blatent efort to corner the market on med pot for profit

I have contacted the Rep. from Hilo stating that being minister of the Religion of Jesus Church for over 30 years I will testify aginst such a unconstitional bill in the unlikely event that it should ever be heard by committee

it is just as unfair for government to be prejudiced for the Religion of Jesus Church as to be prejudiced against it

further I stand convicted of my convictions having taken the issue of the religious use of Cannabis sacrament to the Hawaii Supreme Court, whereas the principal proponet of this bill copped a plea

Jesus never copped a plea regarding his religion neither did I

so one who sells sacrament at 560 an oz. to the sick and spiritually hungry for a living and admitts in court to hidding behind religion for profit is not a legitamate member or minister of the Religion of Jesus Church

the Religion of Jesus Church is a NON-HEIRARCHAL peer to peer network of like minded believers member/ministers formed 1969 in Sanoma CA

there are not designated chapters as the only real answer to the question of where is the Relgion of Jesus Church located?? is here and now. If you have been told otherwise you have been lied to

were this Church a heirarchy the 'back patter' would have been defrocked long ago

I have recently received e-mail from some one charged $150 to join the Church [putting the lie to serving folks for free]

admittance is normally volitional and free

Jesus said beware of wolves in sheeps clothing

and I will repeat what John the Baptist would say to this one who has attempted to turn our Fathers house into a den of theives

REPENT and sin no more

Aloha Rev. Dennis [Jesus in you loves Jesus in me] Shields

February 6, 2004

As Drug War Chronicle has previously reported, Hawaii has the nation's highest incidence of methamphetamine abuse. It also has medical marijuana. And it has the Rev. Jonathan Adler of the Religion of Jesus Church-East Hawaii Branch http://www.sacramedicine.com and http://www.medijuana.com

Mix these three facts together, add in some legislative action, and you could have the recipe for the nation's first state-approved effort to use marijuana to treat meth addiction.

That's what's going on in the Aloha State right now, as a bill championed by Rev. Adler and supported by powerful House Judiciary Chair Eric Hamakawa (D-Hilo) moves through the legislative process. The bill, SB3139, would permit "a section 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization, including a church whose sacraments include the use of marijuana, to be a distributor for persons using medical marijuana and to treat qualifying patients who are addicted to crystal methamphetamine if certain conditions are met." The bill has already passed a first reading in the Senate and is now before the Health and Judiciary committees.

The bill is the brainchild of Adler, whose unstinting support of medical marijuana and marijuana as a holy sacrament has made him the bane of politicians in the Aloha State. So has his reputation as a "wild man of weed," so to speak, which has also distanced him from more than a few other activists. In the mid-1990s, Adler and his Hawaii Medical Marijuana Institute began offering medical marijuana under the state's comatose 1977 law. Adler's agit-prop activities drew publicity for the cause, but they also drew the interest of police. Although Adler claimed a religious right to use the drug, he was arrested in 1998. He walked away from his first trial a free man after the jury, citing confusion over his religious use claims, declared itself unable to reach a verdict.

But his legal luck didn't hold. Adler was eventually convicted on the 1998 charge and another from 1999 and sentenced to six-months in prison, a stint he served last year. That sentence effectively ended his gubernatorial bid as the candidate of the Natural Law Party. But both before doing his time and since, Adler has stayed on course and on message.

Now, after months of exposure to jailed ice users -- "ice" is the common term for meth in Hawaii, where it is typically smoked -- he wants to bring the healing power of the herb to the state's burgeoning methamphetamine-using population. "I was in jail for six months, and 90% of my fellow prisoners were ice addicts," Adler told DRCNet. "They were smoking in the jail at 3:00am. I came out committed to rehabilitate the ice users and the law." Medical marijuana is "a multi-purpose therapeutic aid" that can do a better job of treating ice users than current programs, Adler said. "Here in Hawaii, current treatment programs have a 95% failure rate. I think what these addicts need is education, occupation, and medication." His church program, called "Breaking the Ice," would provide all three, he added.

While there are no studies of the therapeutic effect of marijuana on methamphetamine users, studies of its use in treating crack users have returned promising results. In a Brazilian study, researchers followed crack users who turned to pot to break their addiction. After nine months, they reported, "most of the subjects ceased to use crack and reported that the use of cannabis had reduced their craving symptoms, and produced subjective and concrete changes in their behavior, helping them to overcome crack addiction." In another study from Jamaica, researchers followed 33 crack-smoking women for nine months and found that "cannabis cigarettes ("spliffs") constitute the cheapest, most effective, and readily available therapy for discontinuing crack consumption."

"It could work," said Dr. Ethan Russo, Senior Medical Advisor to British pharmaceutical company GW Pharmaceutical's Cannabinoid Research Institute. GW is the maker of Sativex, a sublingual cannabinoid medicine. "Cannabis is helpful for a variety of addictions, and the mechanisms of crack and meth are quite comparable."

In fact, Russo told DRCNet, a century ago, cannabis was seen as a cure for addiction to other substances. "Historically, in the 19th Century, cannabis was frequently used to treat cocaine and morphine addiction and alcoholism," he explained. "There is a famous book from the beginning of the last century called 'Narcomania,' which described all of the addictive substances, from cocaine to caffeine, morphine to nicotine. The only context in which cannabis was mentioned was as a treatment for addiction to other drugs."

Despite Adler's reputation, he has also earned the respect, or at least the notice, of some politicians, including Rep. Hamakawa. "How can a guy who has smoked on TV at least 10 times, been arrested, showed cops how to smoke medical marijuana, and more get taken seriously?" Adler asked. "He knows I'm sincere, that's why. He is my local representative, and I caught up with him at our local ice summit, and he agreed to do it for me. Hamakawa is not going to use up his own political capital to vocally support this, but he came through on getting it filed."

Hamakawa has also come through with another bill dear to Adler, HB2669, which would allow for religious use of marijuana: "Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, the religious use of marijuana shall be permitted by a bona fide clergy practitioner or a qualifying religious member-practitioner" if that use harms no one else, if it takes place during a religious service in a designated religious structure, if it involves fewer than 10 mature plants, 15 immature plants, or an ounce of usable pot, and if the use is limited to religious purposes.

"This is a piggyback bill to SB3139, which will clarify the religious exemptions for marijuana," Adler explained. "This is the Hawaii Medical Marijuana Institute's effort to register as legal distributors in the state of Hawaii. We had essentially the same bill last year; that one specifically mentioned the Religion of Jesus Church—East Hawaii, but this one is more general."

That bill has also passed its first reading and is headed for the House Judiciary chaired by Rep. Hamakawa, the man who introduced it. But a hearing is unlikely without a showing of support from others besides Adler -- Adler reported that he had again spoken with Rep. Hamakawa, who told him he would not give the religious exemption bill a hearing unless he hears from constituents and others that a hearing should be granted.

The read the meth treatment bill (SB3139) and the religious exemption bill (HB2669) online, go to http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/site1/docs/docs.asp?press1=docs and type in the bill number in the search box.

Hamakawa can be contacted at: Rep. Eric G. Hamakawa, 3rd Representative District, Hawaii State Capitol, Room 302, 415 South Beretania Street, Honolulu, HI 96813, phone: (808) 586-8480, fax: (808) 586-8484, from the Big Island toll free at 974-4000 + 68480, or e-mail to rephamakawa@capitol.hawaii.gov.

Visit http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/320/hawaii.shtml for DRCNet coverage of the Hawaii methamphetamine task force report.

You might recall a flap occuring last year with Mr. Bennet's assertion that modern Christianity owes a major debt to cannabis, but has only historically recently shunned it out of a desire to appear more 'modern'. It runs far deeper than just the obvious superficialities...

It would surprise the sh- out of many antis to learn *just what kind of oil* was commonly used for holy annointment in ancient times; I 'll give you a hint: it sure wasn't Crisco, Johnny.

***

I was feeling sick the other day. I don't get sick very often but I was very nauseated. It wouldn't go away. I thought maybe a little cannabis might help. It did and I got angry. I got very, very angry at the lies.

****

e-mail Rep.Eric Hamakawa - rephamakawa@Capitol.hawaii.gov

e-mail Sen. Colleen Hanabusa - senhanabusa@Capitol.hawaii.gov

And for the industrial hemp supporters who missed this...

Vote Hemp Releases Voter Guide on Presidential Candidates - Kucinich Scores A+ Rating: http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=108-02022004

The way out...

Bob Kerrey Says 9/11 Group Meets With Condoleezza: http://www2.observer.com/observer/pages/frontpage1.asp

Capitol Hill Hearing Needed Now on 9/11 Investigation: http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/archive/scoop/stories/b8/b4/200402050050.0c774450.html

FBI Shut Down Investigation into Saudi Terror Cell in Boston: http://www.madcowprod.com/

9/11 Truth NYC: http://www.ny911truth.org/

International 9/11 Inquiry - San Francisco, March 26-28th: http://www.deceptiondollar.com/Inquiry911.htm

9/11 Citizens Watch: http://www.911citizenswatch.org/

If clergy were not so sinful, cannabis prohibition would not be alive.

Malachi 1:6-14

http://www.biblegateway.org/bible?passage=MAL+1&language=english&version=NASB

Sin of the Priests

6 " 'A son honors his father, and a servant his master. Then if I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is My respect?' says the LORD of hosts to you, O priests who despise My name. But you say, 'How have we despised Your name?' 7 "You are presenting defiled food upon My altar. But you say, 'How have we defiled You?' In that you say, 'The table of the LORD is to be despised.' 8 "But when you present the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? And when you present the lame and sick, is it not evil? Why not offer it to your governor? Would he be pleased with you? Or would he receive you kindly?" says the LORD of hosts. 9 "But now will you not entreat God's favor, that He may be gracious to us? With such an offering on your part, will He receive any of you kindly?" says the LORD of hosts. 10 "Oh that there were one among you who would shut the gates, that you might not uselessly kindle fire on My altar! I am not pleased with you," says the LORD of hosts, " nor will I accept an offering from you. 11 "For from the rising of the sun even to its setting, My name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense is going to be offered to My name, and a grain offering that is pure; for My name will be great among the nations," says the LORD of hosts. 12 "But you are profaning it, in that you say, 'The table of the Lord is defiled, and as for its fruit, its food is to be despised.' 13 "You also say, 'My, how tiresome it is!' And you disdainfully sniff at it," says the LORD of hosts, "and you bring what was taken by robbery and what is lame or sick; so you bring the offering! Should I receive that from your hand?" says the LORD. 14 "But cursed be the swindler who has a male in his flock and vows it, but sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord, for I am a great King," says the LORD of hosts, "and My name is feared among the nations."

http://www.thc-ministry.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=5417#5417

Plus,

US CO: Decriminalize it

Pubdate: Feb. 5, 2004 Source: Boulder Weekly (CO)

Holy cannabis, Brother Adler. I want to start my own church and combine all religions so as to have 400 holidays. I want to read his website and tell him this is up so he can discuss it with us.

See you later.

Christianity, is largely based on the writings of the New Testament, and if one tries to read these writings, one will walk away with a distinct taste, that, human kind, has been subjected to a gross injustice and humiliating inhumanity.

It's not so much about Jesus, but more a testament about ourselves, how we, as enlightened, sensient, and worthy of the image of God, creatures, have lusted and acted with greed, throughout our entire history.

Maybe it was a marijuana side effect. ;-) I never thought of it that way before.