Politics
Hawaii Health Officials Push For Federal Marijuana Rescheduling As Trump Weighs Reform
Hawaii health officials are affirming their support for federal marijuana rescheduling—a policy change that the Trump administration is actively considering.
At the same time, a state lawmaker who sponsored a cannabis legalization bill in the most recent session says he’s actively gathering input on how to revise the legislation in the hopes it can pass next year.
On rescheduling, the Hawaii Department of Health (DOH) told The Honolulu Star-Advertiser that it “recognizes that cannabis’ current classification as a Schedule I substance, defined as having no accepted medical use, conflicts with the growing body of scientific evidence and the reality of its lawful medical use in Hawaii and many other states.”
“If cannabis were reclassified to Schedule III, it could reduce certain barriers to research, allow for more standardized medical guidance, and potentially ease banking and insurance challenges for the industry,” DOH said. “At the same time, federal reclassification would not change Hawaii’s medical cannabis laws or program requirements unless the Legislature amends state law.”
“DOH would continue to prioritize patient safety, product quality, and public health regardless of cannabis’ federal classification,” the statement said.
At this stage, it’s unclear when a decision from President Donald Trump on the federal rescheduling proposal will come. The president, who endorsed rescheduling on the campaign trail, said last month that it would be decided within weeks—but there’s since been no public comments about that status of the reform.
Additionally, a GOP-controlled House committee last week approved a spending bill that contains provisions to block the Justice Department from rescheduling marijuana.
On the state level, meanwhile, legalization proposals have consistently advanced in the legislature only to fall short of final passage. But Rep. David Tarnas (D), sponsor of one recently defeated reform measures, said voters “are very interested in moving forward with legalizing adult-use.”
“Statewide, I’d say the industry that is already legal—the hemp industry and the medical cannabis industry—would like to see better regulatory framework,” he said.
“I’m trying to input all the improvements that people wanted to put into it and also I’ve checked in with all the other states to make sure I’m learning the latest and best practices elsewhere,” the lawmaker said, adding that the “challenge” is that “there are a lot of skeptics” about legalization in the legislature.
“Anybody who wants to obtain cannabis for recreational use or adult use is able to do so. One of the main things I am advocating for establishing a legal framework for adult use is to ensure that we’ve got quality control and that the consumer is purchasing something that they can depend on being accurate to what the label says it is, and that it does not have contaminants.”
Other lawmakers also addressed the ongoing cannabis legalization debate this week.
Jarrett Keohokalole (D-HI) told Island News that it’s a “polarizing issue, and there are strong feelings on both sides.”
“I think there’s an obvious trend across the country that’s moving in the direction of legalization, but Hawaii isn’t ready yet,” he said. “By my read of things at the Legislature, based off of the last several years, it just doesn’t look like we have enough support in both chambers of the Legislature to move it forward.”
Rep. Adam Tam (D), however, said he believes there “is a path forward for legalization.
“One of the reasons why I support it is because I want to take it out of the black market so that we can regulate it, and ensure that it passed all quality health standards,” said Representative Adrian Tam. “It’s just a matter of how to regulate it and how to address those concerns that is on everyone’s mind right now.”
Sen. Brenton Awa (R), for his part, said that while the policy change could create jobs and tax revenue, legislation that has been filed to date leaves a lot to be desited.
“I think people just need to come out with better plans, better bills, that are focused on people,” he said.
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Meanwhile, Hawaii regulators are launching a series of courses designed to educate physicians and other healthcare professionals about medical marijuana as the state’s cannabis program expands.
The underlying medical marijuana expansion bill signed by the governor in late June, in addition to allowing more patients to more easily access cannabis, also contains a provision that advocates find problematic.
Before lawmakers sent the legislation to Gov. Josh Green (D), a conference committee revised the plan, inserting a provision to allow the state Department of Health to access medical marijuana patient records held by doctors for any reason whatsoever.
In May, Green signed separate legislation to allow medical marijuana caregivers to grow marijuana on behalf of up to five patients rather than the current one.
And in July, the governor signed another bill that establishes a number of new rules around hemp products in Hawaii, including a requirement that distributors and retailers obtain a registration from DOH.
Lawmakers also sent a bill to the governor this session that would help speed the expungement process for people hoping to clear their records of past marijuana-related offenses—a proposal Green signed into law in April.
That measure, HB 132, from Tarnas, is intended to expedite expungements happening through a pilot program signed into law last year by Green. Specifically, it will remove a distinction between marijuana and other Schedule V drugs for the purposes of the expungement program.
The bill’s proponents said the current wording of the law forces state officials to comb through thousands of criminal records manually in order to identify which are eligible for expungement under the pilot program.
Hawaii’s Senate back in February narrowly defeated a separate proposal that would have increased fivefold the amount of cannabis that a person could possess without risk of criminal charges. The body voted 12–11 against the decriminalization measure, SB 319, from Sen. Joy San Buenaventura (D).
Had the measure become law, it would have increased the amount of cannabis decriminalized in Hawaii from the current 3 grams up to 15 grams. Possession of any amount of marijuana up to that 15-gram limit would have been classified as a civil violation, punishable by a fine of $130.
A Senate bill that would have legalized marijuana for adults, meanwhile, ultimately stalled for the session. That measure, SB 1613, failed to make it out of committee by a legislative deadline.
While advocates felt there was sufficient support for the legalization proposal in the Senate, it’s widely believed that House lawmakers would have ultimately scuttled the measure, as they did in February with a legalization companion bill, HB 1246.
Last session, a Senate-passed legalization bill also fizzled out in the House.
This year’s House vote to stall the bill came just days after approval from a pair of committees at a joint hearing. Ahead of that hearing, the panels received nearly 300 pages of testimony, including from state agencies, advocacy organizations and members of the public.
This past fall, regulators solicited proposals to assess the state’s current medical marijuana program—and also sought to estimate demand for recreational sales if the state eventually moves forward with adult-use legalization. Some read the move as a sign the regulatory agency saw a need to prepare to the potential reform.
Photo courtesy of Philip Steffan.
