Among Roger Christie’s first words after leaving federal prison Thursday were these:

“Fresh air — I tell ya, it’s a beautiful thing,” he said. “It’s 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 he has been held in Honolulu’s Federal Detention Center since his arrest in July 2010 on a marijuana trafficking indictment.

Cannabis advocate Roger Christie during his interview with Civil Beat on Thursday.

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’m legally allowed to do so. I am a non-violator. … And 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. He still wants to be exonerated for what he feels was his wrongful arrest, and he believes his First Amendment, due process and equal protection rights were denied.

“Fresh air — I tell ya, it’s a beautiful thing. It’s a rare and beautiful thing.” — Roger Christie

Christie’s primary argument is that marijuana should not be a Schedule I drug, a federal categorization that includes heroin, LSD, Ecstasy, Quaaludes and peyote.

“Schedule I for marijuana is a fraud,” he insisted. “Even using the word marijuana is a false flag. It’s misinformation. It’s 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 sentence for trafficking and tax evasion expires.

Somewhere down the road, should 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 of marijuana, Christie has been a poster child.

His story has made headlines across the country. Locally, his greatest supporters include Libertarians who oppose the government’s interference with personal lives.

In fact, the people who drove Christie away from prison were political candidates: Jeff Davis, 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 taken to Mahoney Hale.

Christie has long contended that marijuana is a sacrament and part of his THC Ministry, and four years in prison hasn’t dulled that passion.

As he put it on his website several years ago, “My 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. May we all enjoy the rich, abundant and awakened life that is part of our Divine inheritance.”

‘Danger to the Community’

Federal prosecutors have a different view. They have long argued that his ministry was a facade for illegal marijuana sales.

The THC Ministry, also known as the Hawaii Cannabis Ministry, operated for 10 years in Hilo until Christie was arrested July 8, 2010, and denied bail.

Thirteen co-defendants, including Christie’s then fiancée, Sherryanne “Share” St. Cyr, were allowed to post bond. But Christie was deemed by authorities to be a “danger to the community” and repeatedly denied bail.

As explained in Civil Beat’s report on the Christie case in 2011, USA v. Christie et al. charged the defendant with “knowingly and intentionally” 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 he was wrongfully arrested.

The approach was not surprising, given his history.

Christie became well known on Hawaii Island for his pot-hemp advocacy. He ran unsuccessfully for the Hawaii County Council in 1996 and Big Island mayor in 2004.

In 2008, he fought for a ballot measure question that made cannabis the “lowest priority” for Hawaii County police and prosecutors. It passed by a healthy margin.

‘A Political Prisoner’

The ordinance allows people 21 and older to cultivate and possess up to 24 marijuana plants or 24 ounces of “dried equivalent” on private property. The county is also prohibited from accepting federal funds for marijuana eradication.

Christie’s activities elevated his public profile, and many 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 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 Will Espero, the state senator whose purview includes Hawaii’s prison system, sought to pay a second visit to Christie this year, he 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 only thing I did was to get to visit him a year or so ago.”

Still, the senator said that another round of “knocking on doors” may have motivated federal officials to move on things.

“Every day I’ve spent in prison is an investment in our beautiful future: Cannabis liberation. Feed children. Release prisoners. Heal the sick.” — Roger Christie

Civil Beat was unable 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 Keohe Homesteads farm that he shares with his wife is in danger of being overrun with lava.

“Madam Pele, give us a little break here,” he said with a broad smile.

Mostly, Christie expressed a strong desire to see Share again: “I love her so much. She’s 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 good fight.

“We’ve still got a big job to do,” he said. “Every day I’ve spent (in prison) is an investment in our beautiful future: Cannabis liberation. Feed children. Release prisoners. Heal the sick.”

He concluded, “There’s so much to do. Today is day one, in many ways, of my life.”