House committee shelves pot bill

Hawaii will not be following Colo­rado and Washington state on legalizing marijuana — at least not this year.

The state House Judiciary Committee tabled a bill Tuesday that would have legalized the possession of up to one ounce of marijuana for personal use for those 21 years old or older. The bill would have also allowed marijuana cultivation and the establishment of retail marijuana stores. A 15 percent excise tax would have been imposed on marijuana sales.

Rep. Karl Rhoads (D, Chinatown-Iwilei-Kalihi), the committee’s chairman, said he believed he had the votes on the committee to advance the bill but not in the full House.

"Leadership has recently informed me that there’s no chance of the bill progressing beyond this committee," Rhoads said before deferring the bill indefinitely.

In November, voters in Colo­rado and Washington state approved ballot measures legalizing marijuana, prompting debates over the popular recreational drug in several other states. Marijuana remains illegal under federal law, however, setting up a conflict between the federal government and the states.

Hawaii is one of 18 states and the District of Columbia that allow marijuana for medicinal use.

At a committee hearing earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Justice, the state attorney general’s office, county prosecutors and police and other law enforcement officials urged lawmakers not to legalize marijuana. The Hono­lulu prosecutor’s office warned in written testimony that marijuana is already widely used in Hawaii and that tacit approval of the drug by the Legislature "presents serious potential for widespread abuse and negative impact on the community."

But Rhoads and other lawmakers questioned whether marijuana poses any greater risk than legal substances such as alcohol and tobacco.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii and other legalization advocates said the bill would have moved the state away from what they consider a failed national "war on drugs." The ACLU contended that marijuana laws have been ineffective and have led to the unnecessary incarceration of nonviolent drug offenders.