Push to legalize recreational marijuana grows

The push to legalize pakalolo is building strong momentum this year, with more than two dozen state lawmakers introducing legislation to allow its recreational use by Hawaii adults.

Proponents say legalization could boost state tax revenues by an estimated $20 million annually, while opponents argue recreational use of marijuana may come at the expense of public safety.

“Now is the time. Times have changed, attitudes have changed, people’s thinking has changed,” said former state Sen. Will Espero, who testified last week on Senate Bill 686, which would decriminalize marijuana and open the way for pot sales that would be subject to excise and business taxes.

“When you look at (the fact that) 20 percent of the nation already has legalization … it’s inevitable that we’re gonna go and get legalization. You have 33 or 34 states that have medical cannabis, you have 100 percent now with hemp. These figures 20 years ago were zero.”

Hawaii has a long-held reputation for recreational marijuana use of such popular strains as Maui Wowie and Kona Gold that have been sold illegally on the black market long before the opening of the first medical marijuana dispensaries nearly two years ago.

The state legalized medical cannabis in 2000, but patients had no legal way to obtain it until dispensaries sales started in August 2017. Yet the federal government still considers marijuana a “Schedule 1” drug as dangerous as heroin and more lethal than cocaine and methamphetamine, “with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.”

The conflict between state and federal laws is one reason Gov. David Ige said he isn’t budging on opening the door to recreational use.

“I’m concerned about conflicting federal and state laws that allow marijuana dispensaries on each island but prohibit the transport of marijuana between islands,” Ige said in a statement to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. “Until state and federal laws are consistent, I oppose the legalization of marijuana.”

There’s also a correlation between marijuana use and traffic fatalities, according to testimony by Carol McNamee of the Hawaii chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving at a Senate hearing last week. While MADD doesn’t have a specific position on cannabis legalization, she pointed to an impact report by the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program that showed a 151 percent increase in marijuana-related traffic deaths in Colorado since recreational pot was legalized there in 2014.

Legalization of marijuana also brought the state $905.5 million in revenue to date from cannabis taxes, licenses and fees, according to the Colorado Department of Revenue.

“Hawaii’s annual fatality statistics recently show an increasing number of traffic deaths connected to the presence of drugs. That includes marijuana,” McNamee said. “Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for U.S. teenagers. These young drivers are at risk for crashes because of inexperience, but then alcohol, marijuana and certain other impairing substances put them at even higher risk of being in a crash. We know that the combination of marijuana and alcohol can dramatically impair driving performance.”

She also cited National Highway Traffic Safety Administration statistics for 2016 indicating 43 percent of fatally injured U.S. drivers tested positive for drugs, a major increase from 27 percent in 2005, with marijuana being the most commonly found substance, she said.

Senate Bill 686 and companion House Bill 708 would legalize the personal use, possession and sale of up to an ounce of marijuana for people 21 years and older, saying “sales hold potential for economic development, increased tax revenues and reduction in crime.” Another legalization measure, House Bill 1581, would subject cannabis to a 12 percent excise tax and would allow the transport of marijuana between islands, which is illegal under federal law.

“The Legislature finds that it is high time Hawaii begins to reap the revenue benefits from taxing adult cannabis use,” the bill said.

Sen. Karl Rhoads (D, Nuuanu), whose Judiciary Committee was the first to hear the Senate’s version of the bill last week, said the measure will pass out of his committee Thursday with amendments yet to be determined.

Other legislation on the table would authorize medical cannabis patients to use edibles, decriminalize the drug and allow its use to reduce the opioid crisis, an argument for improving the overall health of the community.

“We have a major problem with alcohol and nobody’s saying ban alcohol,” Espero said. “We have a major problem with gun violence … (and) not many people are saying ban guns in Hawaii. The odds are an alcohol user may be a cannabis user. We need to just make sure that we promote responsibility.

“Just like anything else that deals with alcohol, with cigarettes, people have to be responsible, they need to talk to their children and they need to make certain people understand the law of the land.”