A Circuit Court Judge dismissed a seven-year old indictment charging marijuana activist Aaron Anderson with commercial promotion of marijuana after he was found in possession of legal hemp bird seeds. A jury voted 9-3 to acquit Anderson last October, but a judge later granted the prosecutor’s request to retry the case.
“I can’t think of a bigger waste of taxpayer dollars than the money spent prosecuting Aaron Anderson for purchasing a product recognized as legal under federal law,” said Allen St. Pierre, Executive Director of The NORML Foundation. “After seven years, it finally appears this issue has been put to rest.”
“We believe the judge did the right thing based on the law and the facts of this case,” said attorney Brian DeLime, who represented Anderson.
Prosecutors charged Anderson, age 60, with second-degree commercial promotion of marijuana, a class B felony that carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison and a $25,000 fine. Charges were filed after Anderson ordered a 25-pound shipment of hemp seeds from the mainland in 1991.
Circuit Court Judge Greg Nakamura cited the outcome of Anderson’s trial last year, the age of the indictment, and budgetary constraints as reasons for dismissing the charges against the defendant.
Although the importation and possession of hemp seeds is legal under federal law, prosecutors argued that the seeds fit the legal definition of marijuana under state law. Police also alleged that a small percentage of the seeds sprouted. Last year, Deputy Prosecutor Kay Iopa testified that her office would not prosecute a “little old lady” if she possessed hemp seeds, but would file charges against an individual like Anderson who “is very vocally, very outwardly, advocating the legalization of marijuana.”
Presently, Anderson and former co-defendant Roger Christie — who had similar charges against him dismissed last year — are awaiting trial in a federal countersuit against the county alleging that they were targeted for prosecution because of their outspoken beliefs.
For more information, please contact either Aaron Anderson of the Hawaii Hemp Council @ (808) 965-0300 or Allen St. Pierre of The NORML Foundation @ (202) 483-8751. Roger Christie may be contacted @ (808) 325-0702.
