Hawaii Fails to Legalize Adult Use Cannabis Again

Sara Brittany Somerset

 

Illustration showing 'now entering Hawaii' highway sign with marijuana leaf, relevant to political issues relating to marijuana use and legalizationGetty

Hopes that Hawaii is finally ready to legalize adult use marijuana like their counterparts in California and eleven other states are once again dashed. Efforts to legalize went up in smoke as some leaders are concerned about flying in the face of federal law, which continues to classify marijuana as a schedule one substance with a high potential for addiction and no appropriate medicinal use. 

"On Friday, a legalization bill that made it farther in the legislative process than previous efforts died when lawmakers failed to consider it in time for a deadline," according to the Associated Press. 

"To move forward, the bill had to pass the Senate Health Committee and Senate Ways and Means Committee by a Friday deadline so the full Senate could consider it. However, the Health Committee did not schedule a meeting on Friday to consider any bills, effectively killing the marijuana legalization measure."


AP went on to report that "Senate Majority Leader J. Kalani English has introduced marijuana legalization bills for the past 15 years. Half the Democrats in the state Senate co-sponsored English’s measure, helping spur speculation this would be the year legalization becomes a reality."

Rep. Della Au Belatti, the House majority leader, explained prior to the bill falling by the wayside that lawmakers will continue to err on the side of caution and take their time to implement drug treatment and education programs before legalization.

Sen. Karl Rhoads, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, notes that prohibition has "failed miserably."

Hawaii is known for frustratingly slow-rollouts. Hawaii’s Legislature seemed progressive when they approved medical marijuana nearly two decades ago in 2000, but it took another 15 years for island lawmakers to set up a dispensary system, leaving about 17,000 patients or their caregivers to grow or obtain the plant on their own.

Some dispensaries went nearly bankrupt in the process of having to maintain the rental fees associated with a retail storefront, without being open or having any products to sell. Actual sales of medical marijuana began a mere two years ago, long after other states already legalized adult use.

The potential medical marijuana business owners who obtained their dispensary licenses, spent upwards of $75,000, up front, and have had to maintain their licenses, with hefty six-figure fees, while the state took an exceedingly long time to get their product testing lab situated for the dispensaries to be able to open. After a merit-based application process, the licenses were allocated by a raffle. Actor Woody Harrelson's attempt to receive one did not come to fruition.

“The whole thing was handled a bit backward. The lab should have come first, instead of expecting people to invest in a business that languished with no income,” said Hawaiian-based medical marijuana patient, Jen Taylor.

Perhaps lawmakers do not want to make similar mistakes with the adult use market debut. Rep. Belatti said she’s "just inclined toward decriminalizing marijuana, or reducing fines and criminal penalties for possession," according to AP.

The situation in Hawaii was further complicated by Islanders not being allowed to carry their medical marijuana between the state's seven islands, such as from Honolulu to Maui, as transferring tested and approved medical marijuana inter-island, is tantamount to trafficking.