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Honolulu City Prosecuting Attorney Steve Alm testifies before two Senate committees Thursday against legalization of marijuana. PC: YouTube screen shot
Two Senate committees voted Thursday to recommend passage of a bill to legalize adult personal use of cannabis Hawaiʻi and establish taxes on its retail sale and medical use.
Senate Bill 1613 Senate Draft 1 is the companion bill to House Bill 1246 House Draft 1, which was initially recommended for passage by the House committees on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs and Agriculture & Food Systems on Feb. 4 and then pulled back to committee by House leadership on Feb. 6.
On Thursday, the Health and Human Services and Judiciary committees recommended Senate passage on second reading and referral to two other committees for further consideration.
Kula resident Elizabeth Winternitz, testifying as a kūpuna medical cannabis beneficiary, was in favor of legalizing adult use of marijuana.
“Cannabis prohibition laws do not make our communities safer,” she said. “They waste taxpayer dollars, perpetuate racial disparities in our criminal justice system, and lock people up unnecessarily in our overcrowded jails and prisons.”
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Honolulu City Prosecuting Attorney Steve Alm testified against legalization of “this now very powerful drug, marijuana.”
“As public officials we should always, first and foremost, do no harm,” he said. “This bill would increase the black market, enrich drug dealers and increase the consumption of this now powerful drug.”
“I am especially concerned about our keiki,” he added. “First, what kind of message will we be sending to our keiki about marijuana if it is decriminalized (legalized) from user to dealer quantity? That would be putting the societal stamp of approval on its use. You will be telling our kids that marijuana is safe. Or it wouldn’t be made more legal.”
Alm said there are, in fact, many harms associated with marijuana, including marijuana use disorder; increased psychiatric disorders such as depression, suicidality, and schizophrenia; increases in car collisions and emergency and hospital admissions; impaired cognitive and memory functions, chronic vomiting (cannabis hyperemesis syndrome), environmental harms from illegal grow sites, loss of IQ, increased risk of heart attacks and strokes, and sharp increases in calls to poison centers for children who have eaten marijuana edibles which typically look like candy or sweets.”
Hawaiʻi Senate committee members hear public testimony on a bill to legalize adult use of marijuana Thursday at the State Capitol in Honolulu. The Health and Human Services and Judiciary committees recommended Senate passage on second reading and referral to two other committees for further consideration. PC: YouTube screen shot
The Hawaiʻi Department of Health said the bill has “extensive, well-funded public health protections”; however, “despite this and the strong regulatory requirements proposed, legalizing adult use of cannabis should be expected to have a negative impact on the health of the public. As such, the department remains highly concerned about the public health and environmental impacts that the increased accessibility of cannabis and opening of an adult use marketplace will bring.”
The state Department of Budget and Finance did not have revenue estimates for Senate Bill 1613, but it noted that projections for last year’s Senate bill to legalize cannabis (Senate Bill 3335) projected that taxes on the gross sales of cannabis and medical cannabis would be $4.4 million in fiscal year 2026 and $17 million in fiscal 2027. However, the exemption of cannabis sales from the general excise tax would result in a general fund loss of $1 million in fiscal 2026 and $2.5 million in fiscal 2027.
The department pointed out that other state “sin” taxes (for cigarettes and liquor) generated, respectively, $84.2 million and $51.6 million in fiscal 2024.
Maui public defender David Pullman testified that he’s been a “decades-long cannabis user as well as an attorney,” and, when he moved to Hawaiʻi five years ago, “was shocked to find out that Hawaiʻi still requires users to get a doctor’s note to use cannabis legally.”
“Getting a medical marijuana recommendation costs $250 per year and requires jumping through several hoops,” Pullman said. “Of course, folks in the lower echelons of society, young, poor, carless, homeless, etc. never navigate those hoops and so they are exposed to criminal prosecution. I see it all too often in the courtrooms on Maui. Meanwhile, far more harmful drugs like alcohol and tobacco are legal.”
Thursday’s Senate committee votes were not unanimous. The Judiciary Committee vote was 3-2, with Chair Karl Rhoads and Sens. Stanley Chang and Joy San Buenaventura voting “aye,” and Vice Chair Mike Gabbard and Sen. Brenton Awa dissenting. The Health and Human Services Committee voted 3-1, with Chair Buenaventura and Central Maui Sen. Troy Hashimoto voting “aye”; Vice Chair Henry Aquino voting “aye,” with reservations; and Sen. Kurt Fevella dissenting. Sen. Jarrett Keohokalole was excused.
According to a Senate committee report on the bill, the legalization of recreational use of cannabis has the potential to raise significant tax revenue for the state and create business opportunities and jobs.
“Other jurisdictions such as California and Colorado have utilized the tax revenue generated from legalized recreational adult-use cannabis to fund public education, health care and infrastructure projects,” the committee noted. “Furthermore, legalization of recreational adult-use cannabis will allow the state to control unregulated, untested and illicit sources of cannabis that pose public health concerns.”
The lawmakers also recognized that safeguards are necessary to ensure responsible usage of the psychoactive drug and protect public health and safety.
They also said legalization of cannabis is a social justice issue and decriminalizing it will streamline the judicial system and allow law enforcement to “focus on greater public safety concerns.”
“Certain criminal convictions related to the possession of small amounts of cannabis has significantly impacted marginalized communities through unnecessary arrests and legal repercussions that disrupt lives, employment and families,” the committee report says.
The bill would centralize cannabis under a single regulatory authority, the Hawaiʻi Cannabis and Hemp Office within the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs. It also would add new traffic offenses related to the consumption or possession of marijuana or marijuana concentrate and decriminalize certain drug offenses related to the drug.
Public testimony on the bill included support from the Office of the Public Defender, Big Island Grown Dispensaries, Hawaiʻi Cannabis Industry Association, Pride at Work-Hawaiʻi, Green Aloha, Marijuana Policy Project, Democratic Party of Hawaiʻi, Kūpuna Caucus of the Democratic Party of Hawaiʻi, Law Enforcement Action Partnership, Education Caucus of the Democratic Party of Hawaiʻi, Drug Policy Forum of Hawaiʻi, Noa Botanicals, Reimagining Public Safety and numerous individuals.
Opposition came from the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu; Honolulu Police Department; Hawaii Substance Abuse Coalition; Hawaiʻi High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas Program; Hawaiʻi Christian Coalition; Retail Merchants of Hawaii; Kauai Hemp Company; United Public Workers, AFSCME Local 646, AFL-CIO; Hina Mauka; Hawaiʻi Family Forum; Smart Approaches to Marijuana Hawaii; Coalition for a Drug-Free Hawaii and numerous individuals.
To see the Thursday joint committee hearing, visit the Senate YouTube channel here.
The committee amended the bill by inserting a defective date of Dec. 31, 2050, “to encourage further discussion.”
The committee recommended Senate passage on second reading and referral to the Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection, chaired by Sen. Keohokalole of windward Oʻahu and vice chaired by Sen. Carol Fukunaga of urban Honolulu. West and South Maui Sen. Angus McKelvey serves on that committee.
The bill also was referred to the Ways and Means Committee, chaired by Sen. Donovan Dela Cruz of Central Oʻahu and vice chaired by Sen. Sharon Moriwaki of urban Honolulu. Maui Sens. Lynn DeCoite and Troy Hashimoto sit on that influential Senate committee.
Neither committee had scheduled a public hearing on the bill as of Friday morning.
“}]] Two Senate committees voted Thursday to recommend passage of a bill to legalize adult personal use of cannabis Hawaiʻi and establish taxes on its retail sale and medical use. Read More
