Marijuana bills to be introduced

Penalty for possession would be reduced

Hawaii Tribune-Herald
Wednesday, January 20, 2010

by John Burnett
Tribune-Herald Staff Writer

The state Legislature will consider bills to decriminalize marijuana possession and legalize medical marijuana dispensaries.

Sen. Kalani English, a Democrat who represents East Maui, Lanai and Molokai, said he will introduce the decriminalization bill in this year's session, which begins today.

"It would still remain illegal," English said Tuesday. "There would be a civil proceeding rather than a criminal one."

Under English's proposal, possession of an ounce or less of marijuana would be treated similar to a traffic violation, with a maximum fine of $100 per offense.

"The fines and penalties under this would go into the early intervention fund, and that is a fund we've set up for early intervention, drug counseling, preventive measures, etc.," English said Tuesday.

"We're in really tight economic times right now, and when I started looking at what other states have done, and looking at their outcomes, I started comparing them to Hawaii," he said. "Other states have reduced the penalty for marijuana, and it's reduced the costs in courts and incarceration, so I thought it was timely to put this forward, because we don't have money."

The proposal mentions the voter initiative passed by almost 58 percent of Big Island voters in November 2008 making possession and personal use of marijuana by adults on private property the "lowest law enforcement priority." The ordinance also directs the County Council to reject grants or funding for marijuana eradication.

County Prosecutor Jay Kimura told the council in October that adults caught possessing marijuana below the county's legal limit are still prosecuted under state law on the Big Island.

North Kona Councilman Kelly Greenwell has stated his intention to draft "a resolution that would decriminalize marijuana" on the county level.

English's measure cites a University of Hawaii-West Oahu study that found state and county law enforcement agencies spend $4.1 million yearly to enforce marijuana possession laws and courts spend an additional $2.1 million to process marijuana possession cases. The study found that about 25 percent of marijuana possession arrests end up in conviction, with probation the likely sentence for first-time offenders.

"Clearly, although the cost to enforce marijuana possession laws is substantial, the resulting conviction rate is low," the bill states.

The proposal also cites a Boston University study of states and municipalities that have decriminalized marijuana that concluded: "Decriminalization has little impact on marijuana use."

"This really clears up law enforcement and the judicial docket so they can concentrate on harder drugs -- the ice issue, for example," English said. "There's enough proof out there that ... possession of less than one ounce should not be treated as a criminal offense anymore."

Another bill, co-sponsored by English and Sen. Will Espero, a Leeward Oahu Democrat, would give counties the authority to establish medical marijuana dispensaries.

"We've legalized medical marijuana and over the years, we've tried to loosen the restrictions around it," English said. "The bill would allow for the counties to create dispensaries and then tax sales there, (which would) reduce expenses and generate income."

Wolf Daniel Braun, a medical marijuana patient and president of the Peaceful Sky Alliance, which drafted the Big Island initiative, said Tuesday: "It's long, long overdue -- especially the dispensaries."

Braun said that leaving it up to the counties to establish and regulate the dispensaries adds another layer of bureaucracy to the state's medical marijuana law, but added that "it should be done, whether it is at the counties or the state level. It really needs to proceed."

"The state, when it legalized medical marijuana ... didn't give any means to patients, people who use marijuana as medicine, to acquire their medicine, except to grow their own, have somebody else grow it, or buy it on the black market," Braun said. "Those are really the only three choices.

"... When you buy on the black market, you're dealing with people on the fringes of society. It's always a very sketchy situation when you're dealing with people who have been criminalized."

English said that other bills are being circulated that would allow parolees and probationers to acquire medical marijuana permits, a practice currently prohibited under state law.

"Collectively, we're basically looking at a major reform of how we view marijuana, medically and in general," English said.

E-mail John Burnett at- jburnett@hawaiitribune--herald.com.

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