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MARIJUANA MOMENT
HAWAII SENATE REJECTS MARIJUANA DECRIM EXPANSION BILL, WHILE EXPUNGEMENTS
LEGISLATION HEADS TO GOVERNOR
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POLITICS
HAWAII SENATE REJECTS MARIJUANA DECRIM EXPANSION BILL, WHILE EXPUNGEMENTS
LEGISLATION HEADS TO GOVERNOR
Published
2 hours ago
on
April 22, 2024
By
Ben Adlin
Lawmakers in Hawaii’s Senate on Monday voted down a bill that would have
expanded the state’s existing marijuana decriminalization law, further denying
reform efforts by advocates this legislative session following the failure of a
separate broader legalization bill early this month. Meanwhile, separate
legislation to facilitate expungements of past cannabis offenses is advancing to
the governor’s desk.
The chamber voted 16–9 to reject the decriminalization expansion bill, SB 2487,
which would have decreased the fine for low-level marijuana possession from $130
to $25. The new penalty would have applied to possession up to an ounce of
cannabis—up from three grams under current law.
Possession of more than one ounce would have still carried criminal penalties,
and a new violation would have punished public cannabis consumption with a $130
fine.
Young Americans Are Five Times More Likely To Smoke Marijuana Than Cigarettes
Young Americans Are Five Times More Likely To Smoke Marijuana Than Cigarettes
New polling data from Gallup indicates that a significantly higher number of
Americans now report using marijuana compared to cigarettes. Moreover, young
adults are over five times more likely to consume cannabis than tobacco.
Overall, 17% of Americans report smoking marijuana, while only 12% reported
smoking any cigarettes in the past week. This disparity is particularly notable
among younger age groups. Among those aged 18-34, 26% reported using cannabis,
compared to just 5% who reported smoking cigarettes. For adults aged 35-54, 18%
reported marijuana use, which is higher than the 16% who smoke cigarettes.
However, among adults aged 55 and older, the prevalence of cigarette smoking in
the past week (13%) slightly exceeds that of marijuana use (11%). The survey
question on marijuana use focused on "smoking" the substance, potentially
overlooking other forms of cannabis consumption like edibles and vapes.
“Americans’ reported marijuana smoking has more than doubled since 2013, when
Gallup first added the question in its annual Consumption Habits survey,” the
polling firm said. Support for marijuana legalization has also reached a record
high, with 70% of Americans expressing approval of the policy change.
Conversely, rates of cigarette smoking have declined to historic lows amid
increased awareness of the health risks associated with tobacco. Additionally,
Gallup's separate survey from last year found that Americans perceive marijuana
to be less harmful than alcohol, cigarettes, vapes, and other tobacco products.
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Senators who spoke against the proposal on the floor Monday generally warned
that loosening laws around marijuana use would put children at risk and also
fuel the illicit market.
“Illegal marijuana is unregulated, untested and untaxed,” said Sen. Sharon
Moriwaki (D). “This creates a significant public health concern. It also
contains pesticides, trace elements of metals like lead and nickel and other
toxic chemicals. Decreasing penalties for illegal marijuana sends a message to
our keiki and community that this drug is harmless. It is not.”
Sen. Angus McKelvey (D) said he was voting against the measure but supported a
more regulated approach to reform, citing the legalization measure that recently
died in the House.
“The Senate sent a very good, reasonable recreational legalization bill with
guardrails over to the other chamber,” McKelvey said, warning that if
decriminalization outpaces a legal system, “you could have a black market could
explode, thereby undercutting and creating all the safety hazards that the bill
we sent over should have addressed.”
The legislature did pass two other measures that would take steps toward
expunging certain marijuana-related criminal records, however. Last week the
House approved HB 1595, which would create a pilot program around marijuana
expungements. It cleared the chamber on a 41–9 vote, with one member excused and
now proceeds to Gov. Josh Green (D), who has said he supports legalization.
Senators on Monday also signed off on SB 2706, which would create a so-called
Clean Slate Expungement Task Force charged with crafting legislation for a
state-led record-clearing program. While that expungements bill does not
explicitly mention cannabis, marijuana-related offenses are widely expected to
be included in the would-be task force’s discussions.
The new body would include state officials—including the attorney general, chief
justice, public defender and various prosecutors—as well as representatives from
various advocacy groups, including ACLU, LPP, the Hawaii Innocence Project and
others.
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The governor can sign the bills, veto them or allow them to become law without
his signature.
The Senate’s rejection of the decriminalization expansion proposal, from Sen.
Joy San Buenaventura (D), was deflating for advocates, especially after the
state’s separate plan to legalize marijuana fizzled out.
“It was shocking to see the Hawai’i Senate reject a bill that would have
prevented hundreds of traumatic arrests and life-altering criminal records for
conduct that Hawai’i voters and the Senate itself believe should be legal,”
Karen O’Keefe, director of state policies for the group Marijuana Policy
Project, told Marijuana moment in a statement.
Nikos Leverenz, board president for the Drug Policy Forum of Hawai’i, said the
action was “certainly a disappointment.”
“While Hawaii saw an uptick in legislative activity on cannabis
decriminalization and adult-use cannabis legalization, the status quo remains,”
Leverenz said in a statement. “Too many legislators this cycle have ceded to the
histrionic arguments by many in the criminal legal lobby and others who want to
ensure broad prohibition.”
He noted that currently marijuana prohibition “still ensnares hundreds of
persons per year in the criminal legal system, with a disproportionate impact on
under resourced Native Hawaiian and Pasifika Communities.”
“Hopefully next year’s legislature will produce a bona fide recalibration of
cannabis policy in Hawaii,” he said, also calling for the federal government to
“move with all due speed to remove cannabis from the federal Controlled
Substances Act.”
The separate HB 1595, which now goes to the governor, would create a pilot
program around marijuana expungements. The bill passed on a 41–9 vote on
Thursday, with one member excused.
As initially introduced by sponsor Rep. David Tarnas (D), that measure would
have directed the state to automatically expunge tens of thousands of arrest and
conviction records for low-level marijuana possession. But the Senate Judiciary
Committee last month gutted the proposal, replacing the statewide plan with a
pilot program in Hawaii County that would apply only to non-conviction arrest
records.
Hawaii County comprises the Big Island and is state’s second most populous after
Honolulu County, home to about 14 percent of the state’s population.
The measure’s current scaled-back approach is the product of an amendment from
Attorney General Anne Lopez (D). Her office told Marijuana Moment in an
interview last month that the issue was budgetary, claiming, “There simply isn’t
the money available for new kinds of projects that aren’t deemed necessary or
crucial to the recovery” following massive wildfires that tore through Maui last
August.
The Last Prisoner Project (LPP) advocacy group, which has worked with Tarnas on
cannabis reforms, said in a release after the bill’s passage that it “will be a
blueprint for how Hawai’i can begin to provide retroactive relief to the
thousands of individuals who continue to suffer the consequences of having a
criminal record for cannabis possession, an offense that has been decriminalized
since 2019.”
In a statement from Tarnas in the LPP release, the lawmaker said he hopes the
pilot project “will demonstrate that Hawai’i can grow this state-initiated
expungement process to ensure that every individual that has been affected by a
criminal records for cannabis possession is provided retroactive relief.”
Meanwhile the more-than-300-page legalization bill that failed to advance
earlier this month was formally introduced in both chambers in January and is
based on a legalization plan written by state Attorney General Lopez, who was
appointed by the governor in December 2022. It would have allowed adults 21 and
older to possess up to an ounce of marijuana and up to five grams of cannabis
concentrates.
Tarnas, the bill’s sponsor in the House, has already committed to bringing a
revised bill next session.
“During the interim, I look forward to working with the Attorney General’s
office to improve the language of the bill to address issues brought up during
the House debate on this bill,” he told Marijuana Moment in an email following
the bill’s defeat. “I will be collecting factual information about public safety
and public health concerns, including the assertion of some opponents that
legalization would actually result in an increase in cannabis use by youth as
well as an increase in fatal car crashes attributable to cannabis use.”
As for those claims, Tarnas continued, “I think the evidence shows that there is
no evidence of any increase in use of cannabis by youth in legalization states,
but I will gather the data and present it next session. Similarly, I think the
evidence from legalization states shows that there has not been any demonstrable
increase in car crashes by drivers that is attributable solely to cannabis use.
But, I will gather the data on this topic and present it next session.”
While most of opposition to the legalization bill came from law enforcement,
some Democratic leaders also vocally opposed the reform. Matayoshi, for
instance—the Democratic majority whip who also opposed decriminalization—said
before last month’s House floor vote that he didn’t think colleagues “should
vote with reservations or vote in favor of this bill just to see it move along.”
“We can’t be voting on a bill that has some good parts but also has an
incredible harm to our society in the form of legalizing recreational
marijuana,” he said.
Last year the Senate passed a separate legalization bill that later stalled the
House, but advocates were hopeful this year’s proposal could get further. Gov.
Green said last month that legalization is a “big social issue that remains” to
be addressed in the state, signaling that he’d likely sign a bill to end
cannabis prohibition if lawmakers send him one.
Democrats in control of Hawaii’s Senate had said in January that cannabis
legalization is one of their top priorities this legislative session, framing
the reform as a means to boost the state’s economy.
Hawaii residents themselves seem to support the change. A recent Hawai’i
Perspectives survey by the Pacific Resource Partnership found 58 percent support
for legalization.
Advocates previously struggled under former Democratic Gov. Dave Ige, who
resisted legalization in part because he said he was reluctant to pass something
that conflicts with federal law. But since Green took office, activists have
felt more emboldened. The current governor said in 2022 that he’d sign a bill to
legalize cannabis for adults and already had ideas about how tax revenue could
be utilized.
Last April, Hawaii’s legislature also approved a resolution calling on the
governor to create a clemency program for people with prior marijuana
convictions on their records.
As for other drug policy matters, lawmakers in February advanced a bill that
would provide certain legal protections to patients engaging in
psilocybin-assisted therapy with a medical professional’s approval. The measure
would not legalize psilocybin itself but would instead create an affirmative
legal defense for psilocybin use and possession in the case of doctor-approved
use under the guidance of a trained facilitator.
> Three In Five Americans Say Marijuana Is Safer Than Alcohol Or Tobacco, Survey
> Finds
Photo courtesy of Philip Steffan.
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Ben Adlin
Ben Adlin, a senior editor at Marijuana Moment, has been covering cannabis and
other drug policy issues professionally since 2011. He was previously a senior
news editor at Leafly, an associate editor at the Los Angeles Daily Journal and
a Coro Fellow in Public Affairs. He lives in Washington State.
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