STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1668

                                   Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                     , 1999

                                   RE:  S.C.R. No. 133
                                        S.D. 1




Honorable Norman Mizuguchi
President of the Senate
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 1999
State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committees on Judiciary and Ways and Means, to which
was referred S.C.R. No. 133 entitled:

     "SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION REQUESTING A STUDY TO
     DETERMINE THE FEASIBILITY OF ENACTING A MEDICINAL CANNABIS
     (MARIJUANA) LAW IN LIGHT OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT'S POWER
     TO SUPERSEDE CONFLICTING STATE LAWS,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this concurrent resolution, as received by
your Committees, is to request that the Legislative Reference
Bureau study the feasibility of enacting a medicinal cannabis law
in light of the federal government's power to supercede
conflicting state laws.

     Your Committees find that medicinal cannabis (marijuana)
provides relief from chronic symptoms and debilitating pain for
patients suffering from illnesses such as AIDS, cancer, glaucoma,
Tourette's Syndrome.  These patients are currently subject to
criminal prosecution for using marijuana to relieve their pain.
Your Committees further find that physicians may not prescribe or
recommend the use of medicinal marijuana without fearing the loss
of their license to practice medicine and are subject to possible
criminal prosecution.

     Your Committees are aware that other states including
Alaska, Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington, have
passed initiatives allowing the medicinal use of marijuana
despite prevailing federal law.  While recognizing the benefits

 
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of medicinal marijuana, your Committees remain concerned that
federal law will supercede any attempt that the legislature might
make in passing similar initiatives.  Therefore, your Committees
believe that a thorough review and discussion of problems
encountered by those states as a result of possible conflicts or
inconsistencies with federal law is necessary. 

     Testimony in support of this concurrent resolution was
submitted by the Department of Health, the Drug Policy Forum of
Hawaii, the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii, the Life
Foundation, the Libertarian Party of Hawaii, Cannabis for Health,
a retired law school professor, an attorney, and six private
citizens.  Testimony in opposition to this concurrent resolution
was submitted by the Hawaii Medical Association.  The Honolulu
Police Department also submitted comments.

     Upon further consideration, your Committees have amended
this concurrent resolution by merging the contents of S.C.R. 20
into this concurrent resolution, including:

     (1)  Changing the title to read "Requesting the Legislative
          Reference Bureau to Conduct a Study Regarding the
          Language, Implementation, and Effectiveness of
          Medicinal Cannabis Laws in Other States;"

     (2)  Changing the focus of the study from determining the
          feasibility of enacting a medicinal cannabis law, and
          redirecting the focus of the study to include the
          review and discussion of the problems associated with
          enacting and implementing such a law;

     (3)  Deleting the references to the "American Academy of
          Family Physicians" and the "California Medical
          Association;"

     (4)  Clarifying that a certified copy of this concurrent
          resolution should be transmitted to the "Acting
          Director" of the Legislative Reference Bureau; and 

     (5)  Making technical, non-substantive changes for the
          purpose of clarity and style.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your
Committees on Judiciary and Ways and Means that is attached to
this report, your Committees concur with the intent and purpose
of S.C.R. No. 133, as amended herein, and recommend its adoption
in the form attached hereto as S.C.R. No. 133, S.D. 1.


 
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                                   Respectfully submitted on
                                   behalf of the members of the
                                   Committees on Judiciary and
                                   Ways and Means,



____________________________       ______________________________
CAROL FUKUNAGA, Co-Chair           AVERY B. CHUMBLEY, Co-Chair


____________________________       ______________________________
ANDREW LEVIN, Co-Chair             MATTHEW M. MATSUNAGA, Co-Chair


 
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