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A Hawaii Senate committee on Monday approved a bill to make it so people 65 and older can automatically qualify for medical marijuana, regardless of whether they have a diagnosed condition that would otherwise make them eligible.<\/p>\n
Critics at state agencies say this effectively amounts to legalizing recreational cannabis for the older population without creating a broader regulated adult-use market like the ones that exist in other states.<\/p>\n
The bill cleared the Senate Health Committee unanimously 3-0, with two members absent from the vote. This action came days after that the panel advanced separate legislation related to establishing a working group to study the therapeutic potential of psilocybin mushrooms<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n The text of the marijuana proposal, which was slightly amended by the panel prior to passage, first discusses the wide range of conditions like chronic pain that studies indicate cannabis can help treat. It says that medical marijuana has \u201cbeen demonstrated to positively help with these often-recurring health issues, resulting in a better quality of life.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe legislature further finds that such conditions have been broadly exacerbated by the pandemic, economic instability, and increasing uncertainty in recent years,\u201d it says. \u201cAccordingly, the purpose of this Act is to make it easier for senior citizens to access the state medical cannabis program.\u201d<\/p>\n The bill<\/a> would make a simple statutory change to the state\u2019s existing medical marijuana law. As it stands, only patients diagnosed \u201cas having a debilitating medical condition\u201d by a doctor qualify for the program. That would be expanded to also include anyone \u201cwho has reached the age of sixty-five.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Hawaii isn\u2019t the U.S. jurisdiction where lawmakers are trying to make it easier for senior citizens to access cannabis. The mayor of D.C. signed a bill this week that allows senior citizens to self-certify their own eligibility for cannabis<\/a> without having to get a recommendation from a doctor.<\/p>\n At the Hawaii meeting this week, Health Committee Chairman Jarrett Keohokalole (D) briefly addressed amendments that were adopted following feedback from the state attorney general\u2019s office.<\/p>\n In written testimony<\/a> that was submitted to the panel last week, the office said there were some problems with the draft language. First, it said there was a technical issue with statutory language that would, inadvertently, \u201ccompletely prohibit senior citizens from using medical cannabis.\u201d Adding a simple clause would fix that problem, it said.<\/p>\n \u201cHowever, even with this change, this bill presents problems,\u201d the attorney general\u2019s office said. \u201cThe amendment would exempt anyone 65 or older, as well as the person\u2019s primary caregiver, from the requirement that a qualified patient only possess an adequate supply.\u201d<\/p>\n The committee agreed to make the language fix, specify that people 65 and older would be subject to the same possession limits as any other patient and also defer the effective date of the bill to January 1, 2050\u2014a common legislative practice in Hawaii signaling that the measure will continue to be discussed and revised. The panel made the same timeline decision for the psilocybin legislation that advanced last week.<\/p>\n \u2014 The attorney general\u2019s testimony also criticized the bill more broadly, saying it gives \u201cno rationale is given for allowing all senior citizens access to cannabis, regardless of their medical condition.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWithout that rationale, an argument can be made that expanding medical cannabis access to all senior citizens, and removing possession restrictions, effectively legalizes recreational cannabis only for those of a certain age,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n The state Department of Health made a similar argument in its testimony opposing the reform proposal. It said that the legislation \u201cplaces an adult-use program under the guise of medical cannabis and could jeopardize the medical cannabis program by exposing it to federal scrutiny.\u201d<\/p>\n The state legislature adopted a resolution<\/a> last year that asks the state to seek an exemption from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) stipulating that it is permitted to run its medical cannabis program without federal interference. The House approved an identical measure in March 2021<\/a>, but it only applied to that chamber.<\/p>\n A Senate-approved bill\u00a0to legalize marijuana<\/a> in Hawaii died last year when it failed to proceed past a House committee by a key deadline.<\/p>\n In 2020, Gov. David Ige (D) allowed a bill to become law without his signature<\/a> that decriminalized possession of up to three grams of cannabis. People who possess three grams or less now face a $130 fine, without the possibility of incarceration.<\/p>\n Ige was\u00a0reluctant to let the decriminalization bill advance<\/a>, describing it as \u201ca very tough call\u201d and saying he went \u201cback and forth\u201d on the issue before deciding to allow it to be enacted. Any further reform will likely face an uphill battle with the governor, who\u2019s expressed concerns about implementing policies that he sees as conflicting with federal law.<\/p>\n New York Bill Would Give Temporary Marijuana Licenses To Hemp Growers To Prepare For Sales And Promote Equity<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Sonya Yruel\/Drug Policy Alliance<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Hawaii Senate Committee Approves Bill To Legalize Marijuana For Senior Citizens 65 And Older<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
A Hawaii Senate committee on Monday approved a bill to make it so people 65 and older can automatically qualify for medical marijuana, regardless of whether they have a diagnosed condition that would otherwise make them eligible. Critics at state agencies say this effectively amounts to legalizing recreational cannabis forContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":53027,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81,126],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53026"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53026"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53026\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53028,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53026\/revisions\/53028"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: Hawaii Senate Committee Approves Bill To Legalize Marijuana For Senior Citizens 65 And Older<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"