Several cannabis bills in Hawai'i weren’t called before a key deadline, and the clock ran out on them. But others advanced — including a bill to legalize cannabis with up to five milligrams per serving for adults 21 and older (SB 3275, SD 1).
While we’d like to see amendments to the bill, it is an important step forward. At the hearing, Honolulu prosecutor Steve Alm called legalization “addiction for profit,” suggesting regular cannabis consumers — many of whom use cannabis as a natural medicine…
Hawai’i has considered legalization bills for years, but they have never made it past the finish line. It’s time to give voters a chance to stop punishing adults for relaxing with cannabis.
While the bill makes some modest improvements to the medical cannabis program, the conference committee revised it to include alarmingly punitive and intrusive provisions.
After letting advocates down on cannabis legalization and decriminalization earlier this year, the Hawai’i Legislature has the opportunity to advance cannabis justice and liberty in the context of medical cannabis.
We are extremely disappointed that the Hawai’i Senate has both failed to schedule committee hearings on legalization by the deadline and it narrowly voted down a decriminalization expansion bill (S.B. 319).
On Monday, April 22nd, 2024, in a shocking turn of events, the Hawai’i Senate defeated the House-passed version of SB 2487, which would have expanded the state’s paltry decriminalization law. The Senate had previously approved an earlier version of SB 2487, 24-1. It had also passed full legalization, which died in the House Finance Committee.
Sen. Angus McKelvey was one of the 14 senators to flip from “yes” on March 5’s vote to “no” yesterday. He claimed, “The Senate sent a very good, reasonable…
On April 22nd, 2024, in a shocking turn of events, the Hawai’i Senate defeated the House-passed version of SB 2487, which would have expanded the state’s paltry decriminalization law. The Senate had previously approved an earlier version of SB 2487, 24-1. It had also passed full legalization, which died in the House Finance Committee.
We're sorry to report that Hawaii’s legalization bill has died without being scheduled for a hearing in House Finance. While this is disappointing, legalization got further this year than ever before and we’re not giving up until it crosses the finish line. The bill’s House sponsor, Rep. David Tarnas, is committed to continuing working on the bill and researching the issue in the interim.