HONOLULU (AP) - Michelle Tippens was taking more than a dozen medications for years after a car accident left her with multiple spine fractures and traumatic brain injuries. But when she switched to medical marijuana she was able to wean herself off all of the pills, she said. Tippens is one of nearly 13,000 patients in Hawaii who have conditions that could be treated with medical marijuana. But because there are no dispensaries in Hawaii, they're left to fend for themselves, buying on the black market or growing it themselves. [continues 169 words]
The push to develop dispensaries for medical marijuana will be back in the Hawaii Legislature this week when a joint meeting of two House committees takes up the proposal. Supporters say providing legal access to marijuana for patients is long overdue, and House Speaker Joe Souki agreed with that assessment in his opening-day remarks. More than 200 pages of testimony were submitted for and against the proposal by those who feel strongly that access is needed and others who fear marijuana will fall into the hands of susceptible youths. The House's Health and Judiciary committees plan to vote on the measure Tuesday afternoon. [continues 166 words]
Jari Sugano said she supports a bill that would make dispensing marijuana easier to help her 6-year-old daughter, Maile, who suffers from seizures. "It's time to come together and support this," said Sugano, sitting next to Maile, who was in a wheelchair at a legislative hearing Saturday. State laws allow the use of marijuana for medical purposes and for people to grow or have grown enough to supply 4 ounces at a time. But Sugano and others told lawmakers Saturday that obtaining the drug is difficult because it's illegal to sell it in Hawaii. [continues 270 words]
During her confirmation hearings last week, Loretta Lynch, President Barack Obama's choice to succeed Eric Holder as attorney general, called civil forfeiture, a form of legalized theft in which the government takes people's property without accusing them of a crime, "a wonderful tool." Lynch, currently the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, suggested that innocent owners need not worry about getting hammered by this tool, because forfeiture "is done pursuant to supervision by a court," and "the protections are there." [continues 593 words]
WAILUKU, Maui (AP) - Some Maui residents say it's too expensive to get marijuana for medical purposes and the laws governing the state's medical marijuana program are inconsistent. Residents spoke at a meeting the state Department of Health held in Wailuku this week to gather public input on improving the program now that it's taking over its administration from the state Department of Public Safety, The Maui News reported. The department has held similar meetings elsewhere in the state. [continues 287 words]
Tracy Ryan, chair of the Libertarian Party of Hawaii, points out that our state should put the legalization of marijuana issue to the process of referendum, submitting a legislative measure to the voters for approval or rejection ("It's time to legalize marijuana and reap its many benefits," Star-Advertiser, Island Voices, Jan. 29). Our Legislature is too spineless to address this issue at hand, so voters of Hawaii must themselves decide by establishing an initiative, putting this question to the democratic test. Stuart N. Taba Manoa [end]
It has been a while since we had a governor whose family includes younger children. Hopefully Gov. David Ige will envision "our home" as an extension of his own, and strongly oppose illegal drugs, especially the "gateway" drug of marijuana. Our youth deserve to be launched into a society that corresponds to "just say no" and experience life with clear minds and healthy bodies. Last year our Legislature dealt with drug proposals, including one that proposed making Hawaii a major supplier of marijuana that profits from selling to other communities. [continues 51 words]
The most aloha way for the state of Hawaii to earn lots money would be simple: Legalize it! How about cannabis and viewing the hot live lava? Let people take guided tours or something, entrepreneurs will solve the liability issue. Let that blimp go up and take tourists to see the lava, hang up there and have a drink and snack and love Hawaii! Let the tourists come and sample good Hawaii buds; the medical healing cannabis centers would be world class. This would add to the healing properties of Hawaii. Since cannabis is a respected commodity, let's be cutting edge. Sara Steiner Pahoa [end]
The last time the Georgia legislature considered a bill aimed at restricting no-knock search warrants, it was prompted by a 2006 drug raid in which Atlanta police killed Kathryn Johnston, a 92-year-old woman who grabbed a revolver to defend herself against the armed men crashing into her home. This time around, the precipitating event was a 2014 drug raid in which a Habersham County SWAT team burned and mutilated a 19-month-old boy, Bounkham "Bou Bou" Phonesavanh, by tossing a flash-bang grenade into his crib. [continues 592 words]
Hawaii should not wait any longer to join the list of states that have legalized marijuana. There is simply too much at stake for us to allow our Legislature to peck away at this for five or 10 years without taking real action. Hawaii was once an important exporting state. Many of us remember the period before the Green Harvest eradication program and other measures that ruined this business here. Law enforcement turned us into a net importer from California and paved the way for our meth-amphetamine problems. Public opinion has finally caught up to common sense on marijuana issues with political pressure applied to end the enforcement efforts on the Big Island. [continues 451 words]
A federal judge has done what Congress and the Obama administration have failed to do - open a discussion on whether marijuana should continue to be listed as a Schedule 1 drug, a classification that is supposed to be used only for the most dangerous, addictive drugs, such as heroin and LSD. As part of a criminal trial involving alleged marijuana growers in Northern California, U.S. District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller held a five-day hearing late last year to evaluate the current scientific research on marijuana use and to determine whether the Schedule 1 designation is unconstitutional, as the defendants contend. [continues 359 words]
HONOLULU (AP) - State lawmakers are beginning to introduce a series of bills that aim to make marijuana more freely available in the state. A bill to decriminalize marijuana is currently being drafted, said Sen. Will Espero, chairman of the Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs Committee. That bill would reduce punishment for using marijuana to a civil violation instead of a felony, he said. Under the proposal, getting caught with marijuana would be similar to getting a parking ticket, and like a parking ticket, violators could mail in their responses to the courts. The fine would not exceed $100, Espero said. [continues 256 words]
Money-hungry cops are angry about the forfeiture reform that Attorney General Eric Holder announced on Jan. 6, which suggests it's a move in the right direction. But contrary to initial press reports, the new policy represents a modest change to the rules governing civil forfeiture, which allows the government to take people's assets without accusing them of a crime. "Civil forfeiture is fundamentally at odds with our judicial system and notions of fairness," two former directors of the Justice Department's Asset Forfeiture Office observed in a Washington Post op-ed piece last fall. "Civil forfeiture laws presume someone's personal property to be tainted, placing the burden of proving it 'innocent' on the owner." [continues 563 words]
State Trying to Determine How to Provide Licensed Cannabis Patients With Their Medicine Nearly 14 years after the use of medical marijuana was legalized in Hawaii, medical marijuana patients may have a legal way to purchase it, rather than just grow it themselves, within the next few years. The 21-member group tasked with crafting guidelines for a state-monitored medical marijuana dispensary system is recommending that at least one dispensary be opened in four of the state's five counties by the start of 2017. [continues 962 words]
Harold Rogers, the Kentucky Republican who chairs the House Appropriations Committee, says a rider in the omnibus spending bill that Congress enacted last month stops the District of Columbia from legalizing marijuana. Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District's congressional delegate, disagrees. So do D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson and D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine. Surprisingly, given the sway that Congress has over D.C., it looks like Rogers will lose this argument, and marijuana will soon be legal in the nation's capital. [continues 589 words]
Nearly 14 years after the use of medical marijuana was legalized in Hawaii, medical marijuana patients may have a legal way to purchase it, rather than just grow it themselves, within the next few years. The 21-member group tasked with crafting guidelines for a state-monitored medical marijuana dispensary system is recommending that at least one dispensary be opened in four of the state's five counties by the start of 2017. Members of the Hawaii Medical Marijuana Dispensary Task Force, which was created during the last legislative session and convened shortly afterward, also agreed that state Department of Health officials should offer at least 30 licenses for medical marijuana producers beginning on June 1, 2016. [continues 994 words]
KAILUA-KONA (AP) - Hawaii's Medical Marijuana Dispensary Task Force will recommend that licenses for marijuana production centers and dispensaries be offered in 2017, according to the state representative overseeing the group. Rep. Della Au Belatti said the task force finished its work this week. She is working on a bill for the House to consider when the Legislature convenes Jan. 21, West Hawaii Today reported. "The recommendations are really just a starting point," she said. "Some of the recommendations will be taken up, and some of them won't." [continues 199 words]
KAILUA-KONA (AP) - Hawaii's Medical Marijuana Dispensary Task Force will recommend that licenses for marijuana production centers and dispensaries be offered in 2017, according to the state representative overseeing the group. Rep. Della Au Belatti (D, Moiliili-Makiki-Tantalus) said the task force finished its work this week. She is working on a bill for the House to consider when the Legislature convenes Jan. 21, West Hawaii Today reported Thursday. "The recommendations are really just a starting point," she said. "Some of the recommendations will be taken up, and some of them won't." [continues 198 words]
For years, New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof has insisted that people who pay for sex and the intermediaries who facilitate that exchange are responsible for violence against women. Hence his Feb. 26 column celebrating the arrests of men who were guilty of nothing but negotiating terms with cops posing as hookers. In reality, it is prostitution prohibitionists such as Kristof who make the occupation unreasonably dangerous by creating a black market in which vendors are subject to theft and assault without legal recourse. [continues 594 words]
Hawaii's Medical Marijuana Dispensary Task Force Facilitator Hopes Patients Will Soon Have Easier Access to the Drug Susan Chandler says she had no particular opinions about medical marijuana before she agreed to be facilitator for Hawaii's Medical Marijuana Dispensary Task force - and as a formal matter she still is neutral when conducting the business of the legislatively created body. But being on the task force did make her aware of the many Hawaii residents who apparently benefit medically from the use of marijuana but have been having great difficulty obtaining it. [continues 2195 words]
Inside Hawaii
