After Serving Most of Prison Term, ‘Minister of Cannabis’ Halfway Home
Roger Christie says he’ll smoke marijuana again, but only when he’s legally allowed. For now, his focus is on changing federal law.
Among Roger Christie’s first words after leaving federal prison Thursday were these:
“Fresh air 鈥 I tell ya, it鈥檚 a beautiful thing,” he said. “It鈥檚 a rare and beautiful thing.”
Christie, a so-called minister of cannabis on the Big Island, has not breathed a lot of fresh air over the past four years.
He hasn’t smoked pot, either, because听he has been听held听in Honolulu’s Federal Detention听Center since听his arrest in July 2010 on a marijuana听trafficking indictment.
PF Bentley/Civil Beat
Christie, 65, told Civil Beat after his release that he would smoke pakalolo again one day.
“Oh, certainly,” he said. “But when I鈥檓 legally allowed to do so. I am a non-violator. … And听I have bigger fish to fry, so to speak. “
The “bigger fish” is yet another appeal to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, scheduled for Oct. 30.听He still wants to be exonerated for what he feels was his wrongful arrest, and he believes his听First Amendment, due process and equal protection rights were denied.
“Fresh air 鈥 I tell ya, it鈥檚 a beautiful thing.听It鈥檚 a rare and beautiful thing.” 鈥 Roger Christie
Christie’s听primary argument is that marijuana should not be a Schedule I drug, a federal categorization that听includes听heroin, LSD, Ecstasy,听Quaaludes听and peyote.
“Schedule I for marijuana is a fraud,” he insisted. “Even using the word marijuana is a false flag. It鈥檚 misinformation. It鈥檚 designed purposely to throw people off of the trail of the goodness of cannabis hemp.”
For now, Christie will be spending the next nine weeks in Mahoney Hale, a halfway house downtown.
If all goes well, he says he will be released Nov. 14, the day when his five-year听sentence for trafficking and tax evasion expires.
Somewhere down the road, should听marijuana be legalized in Hawaii, Christie will exercise once more what he believes to be a constitutional, even spiritual right.
“Oh, absolutely, 100 percent,” he said. “I want to juice it. I want to eat it. I want to wear it.”
Libertarian Poster Child
For advocates of the legalization听of marijuana, Christie has been a听poster child.
His story has made . Locally, his greatest supporters include Libertarians who oppose the government’s interference with personal lives.
In fact, the people who听drove听Christie away from prison were political candidates: Jeff Davis,听who works in the solar industry and is running for governor, and Tom Berg, a former Honolulu City Councilman who is running for the state House of Representatives.
Christie walks out of the Federal Detention Center in Honolulu with his belongings.
PF Bentley/Civil Beat
Davis and Berg drove Christie to Davis’s Pacific Heights home, where interviews were held with Civil Beat and later KITV. Only then was Christie听taken to Mahoney听Hale.
Christie has long contended听that marijuana is a sacrament and part of his , and four years in prison hasn’t dulled听that passion.
As he put it on his website several years ago, 鈥淢y mission in life includes helping to liberate the cannabis hemp plant and to help cannabis, the tree of life, back into the garden of Eden.听May we all enjoy the rich, abundant and awakened life that is part of our Divine inheritance.鈥
‘Danger to the Community’
Federal prosecutors have a different view. They have long argued that his ministry was a facade听for听illegal marijuana sales.
The THC Ministry, also known as the Hawaii Cannabis Ministry, operated for 10 years in Hilo until听Christie was arrested July 8, 2010, and denied bail.
Thirteen co-defendants, including Christie鈥檚 then fianc茅e, Sherryanne 鈥淪hare鈥 St. Cyr, were allowed to post bond. But Christie was deemed by authorities to be a 鈥渄anger to the community鈥 and repeatedly denied bail.
As explained in听Civil Beat’s report on听the Christie case in 2011,听USA v. Christie et al.听charged the defendant with 鈥渒nowingly and intentionally鈥 conspiring to manufacture, distribute and possess marijuana along with harvested and processed pot and other products containing pot such as food, tinctures and oils.
Christie making his first statements to the media outside the Federal Detention Center.
PF Bentley/Civil Beat
Facing a prison sentence of five to 40 years, Christie pleaded not guilty and tried to convince the courts that听he was wrongfully arrested.
The approach was not surprising, given his history.
Christie became well known on Hawaii Island for his pot-hemp advocacy.听He ran unsuccessfully for the Hawaii County Council in 1996 and Big Island mayor in 2004.
In 2008, he fought听for a ballot measure question that made听cannabis the 鈥渓owest priority鈥 for Hawaii County police and prosecutors.听It passed by a healthy margin.
‘A Political Prisoner’
The allows people 21 and older to cultivate and possess up to 24 marijuana plants or 24 ounces of 鈥渄ried equivalent鈥 on private property. The county is also prohibited from accepting federal funds for marijuana eradication.
Christie’s activities elevated听his public profile, and many听of his supporters argued law enforcement was out to get him.
Russell Ruderman, a state senator from the Big Island, has long worked to help Christie. He said he welcomed what appears to be the resolution of the controversial case.
Christie is interviewed by reporter Chad Blair at the Pacific Heights home of Jeff Davis.
PF Bentley/Civil Beat
Still, Ruderman calls the last four years “an incredible outrage and completely unjustifiable.”
“People get out on bail for murder, for rape, for dealing ice,” he said. “I believe he was a political prisoner. It was frankly absurd.”
Ruderman said prosecutors thought Christie would agree to a plea bargain earlier on, as did other defendants.
“But they never met anybody听like him,” Ruderman said. “He’s a true believer.”
Prison Release Delayed?
Christie and his now-wife, Share Christie, finally entered into a plea bargain with federal prosecutors last September. The time he had already served was factored into his sentencing.
There is some confusion as to why Christie was not allowed to go to the halfway house sooner. He told Civil Beat that prison officials came by his cell several times in recent months and asked why he was still there.
“I was on an eternal wait list,” he said. “I was supposed to be there months ago. No one could tell me why I was still waiting.”
Ruderman said he is not sure why Christie’s release was delayed, either. But when he and colleague听Will Espero, the state senator whose purview includes Hawaii’s prison system, sought to pay a second visit to Christie this year, he听was ordered moved to Mahoney Hale.
Christie thinks the government inquiry from Ruderman and Espero had something to do with “breaking the logjam.” But Ruderman says no.
“I’d love to take credit for that, but that’s an overstatement,” said Ruderman. “The听only听thing I did was to get to visit him a year or so ago.”
Still, the senator said听that another round of “knocking on doors” may have motivated federal officials to move on things.
“Every day I鈥檝e spent in prison is an investment in our beautiful future: Cannabis liberation. Feed children. Release prisoners. Heal the sick.” 鈥 Roger Christie
Civil Beat was unable听to reach the Bureau of Prisons office at the Federal Detention Center to ask about the delay.
Christie said friends who have seen his picture lately remark on how he has aged. He expressed no resentment and seemed overjoyed to be out of prison.
At Davis’ home, Christie marveled at the view of the Honolulu skyline. He laughed when he spied a faded “Free Roger” bumper sticker on a car. He carefully caressed an orchid.
He even managed to laugh that the听Keohe Homesteads听farm that he shares with his wife is in danger of being overrun with lava.
“Madam Pele, give us a little break听here,” he said with a broad smile.
Mostly, Christie expressed a strong desire to see Share again: “I听love her so much. She鈥檚 the greatest, and I look forward to being in her loving arms, home sweet home.”
Roger Christie wants to continue what he sees as the听good fight.
“We鈥檝e still got a big job to do,” he said. “Every day I鈥檝e spent (in prison)听is an investment in our beautiful future: Cannabis liberation. Feed children. Release prisoners. Heal the sick.”
He concluded, “There鈥檚 so much to do. Today is day one, in many ways, of my life.”
