Hawaii: Legislature Approves Medical Marijuana Task Force Measure - NORML
Hawaii: Legislature Approves Medical Marijuana Task Force Measure - NORML
Honolulu, HI: The Hawaii legislature has approved legislation to establish the formation of an eleven-member task force to investigate options for providing legal cannabis for Hawaii’s state-qualified medical cannabis patients. The bill now awaits action from Gov. Linda Lingle (R).An estimated 3,000 Hawaiians are registered to use medical cannabis under state law.
As approved by the legislature, House Bill 2675 calls on the task force to make recommendations regarding “the feasibility of developing safe growing facilities … for qualified patients with written certification to grow medical marijuana for their medical use.” The task force is also mandated to review statewide guidelines authorizing the amount of medical cannabis patients may legally use and possess under state law.
The task force must submit its recommendations, including any proposed legislation, to the legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the 2009 regular session.
Good news for our friends out on the islands, to be sure, but sometimes the pace of positive drug law reform seems so slow, doesn’t it? They aren’t moving to get medicine to patients, they’re moving to talk about how they might get medicine to patients.
The key to this measure will be the empaneling of the task force. Will they act in good faith with the needs of patients foremost on their agenda? Will they be government types looking for any excuse to squash the program? In addition to grow facilities and possession amounts, they are also tasked with determining how to accommodate inter-island travel for patients, a special issue for Hawaii, as federal law intrudes on travel by ship or plane, yet inter-island travel is inter-state travel and medical marijuana’s legal in Hawaii.
The bill lays it out as follows:
There is established within the University of Hawaii for administrative purposes a medical marijuana task force. The college of tropical agriculture and human resources shall be responsible for administering the work of the medical marijuana task force, providing a facilitator, and submitting a report to the legislature.
The members of the medical marijuana task force shall consist of eleven members as follows: The director of public safety ,the director of health,the director of transportation, the attorney general (or a person these directors designate), three members of the Drug Policy Forum of Hawaii, three patient advocates to be appointed by the governor, the president of the senate, and the speaker of the house of representatives; and a prescribing physician.
Hmm, four government types, three reformers, three patients, and a doctor. Sounds promising…
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Tags: Hawaii
