Two men charged with possessing marijuana with a street value of more than $100,000 at a Kalihi hydroponics supply store are scheduled to appear in Honolulu District Court this morning.
Kapahulu resident Thomas Lee Acklen Jr., 31, and Ward Avenue resident Carlos Jude Trahan, 48, arrested Friday, are out of jail after posting $20,000 bail each. Both were charged with two counts of first-degree promotion of a harmful drug, one count of possessing drug paraphernalia and one count of second-degree promotion of a detrimental drug.
The two men work at Green Hands of Aloha, a store on Mary Street near Sand Island which bills itself on its website as "Hawaii’s Number One Hydroponic Greenhouse Equipment and Organic Garden Supply Store."
The two men had medical marijuana permits, police said. But the amounts they had exceeded legally allowed amounts, police said.
Police confiscated from the store on Friday:
» About 168 grams of marijuana buds, with an estimated value of $20,160.
» About 448 grams of dried marijuana, value estimated at $53,760.
» About 112 grams of hashish, value estimated at $13,440.
» About four ounces of marijuana extract, value estimated at $13,440.
Police declined to provide further details.
Neither Acklen nor Trahan returned a telephone call placed to them Tuesday at Green Hands of Aloha.
Medical marijuana permits are administered by the state Department of Public Safety’s Narcotics Enforcement Division.
Keith Kamita, the department’s deputy director for law enforcement, said a person with a medical marijuana permit is allowed up to three mature, budding plants and four nonbudding plants. Each budding plant can contain no more than one ounce of usable marijuana, Kamita said, which comes out to a maximum of three ounces per permit.
Selling marijuana is illegal in Hawaii, and as a result, there are no dispensaries here, Kamita said. However, a person with a medical marijuana permit who is physically incapable of growing his or her own marijuana may designate another party as a "primary caregiver." But a person cannot be a primary caregiver for more than one person, Kamita said.
"Hawaii has what they call a one-to-one-person relationship so a caregiver can only be (a caregiver) for one person," Kamita said. "The most you could have would be like 14 plants" — seven each for the caregiver and the person being cared for.
According to online records on the state Business Registration Division website, Green Hands of Aloha once described the purpose of its business in documents as "caregiver."
The number of people registering to use medical marijuana has climbed significantly in Hawaii in recent years.
Physicians may authorize patients to obtain a medical marijuana permit if they suffer the symptoms or effects of a "debilitating medical condition" that can be alleviated with the use of marijuana.
This legislative session, law enforcement and anti-drug campaign leaders supported House Bill 1963, which would have narrowed the definition of "debilitating medical condition." The bill stalled in the House Judiciary Committee.
Kamita, who supported the bill, said the original intent of allowing for medical marijuana permits was primarily to aid those with glaucoma, HIV/AIDS and cachexia, also known as "wasting syndrome." Of the 10,454 permits issued so far in fiscal 2012, however, 6,199 were for "severe pain" and 3,586 listed "multiple conditions."
Doctors, he said, are "a little bit more lax with this program, but they need to tighten it up just like we do with any other controlled substances."
Earlier this month U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents arrested Honolulu police officer Michael Steven Chu, who was charged with conspiring to possess and distribute 48 marijuana plants and one pound of processed marijuana.
The 13-year HPD veteran allegedly grew marijuana at indoor operations inside a Kapiolani Boulevard apartment and a Mililani Mauka home. Chu said he has a medical marijuana permit.
Chu is out on an unsecured $25,000 signature bond.
