STAND. COM. REP. NO.121
Honolulu, Hawaii
, 2001
RE: H.B. No. 707
H.D. 1
Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say
Speaker, House of Representatives
Twenty-First State Legislature
Regular Session of 2001
State of Hawaii
Sir:
Your Committees on Health and Public Safety and Military Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 707 entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES,"
beg leave to report as follows:
The purpose of this bill is to make statutory provisions regulating the medical use of marijuana.
The Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu, State Department of Public Safety, Honolulu Police Department, and the Community Alliance on Prisons testified in support of this bill. While the Department of Health (DOH) supported this bill, DOH recommended that the DOH should not be designated to determine other medical conditions that may be covered under the statute.
The American Civil Liberties Union and the Drug Policy Forum of Hawaii opposed this bill.
Your Committees find that while medical use of marijuana is legal in Hawaii, it continues to be an unlawful drug when distributed and controlled by persons other than for medical purposes. The evidence of the medicinal effects of marijuana is still under scrutiny and continues to be the subject of debate.
Your Committees recommend that any further legal questions regarding this bill should be addressed by the Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs.
After balancing the equities of the medical use of marijuana, your Committees have made the following amendments to the bill:
(1) Providing for a temporary registration certificate for the use of marijuana for medical purposes;
(2) Defining "debilitating medical condition";
(3) Deleting the provision designating DOH to determine other medical conditions that may be covered under this statute;
(4) Adding language making the definition of "primary caregiver" more specific;
(5) Deleting language specifying where medical use of marijuana is prohibited;
(6) Making this statute applicable to persons under the control of the Department of Public Safety who may be in detention centers outside of this State;
(7) Reinserting language that places a $25 cap on fees for registration certificates; and
(8) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and style.
As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Health and Public Safety and Military Affairs that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 707, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 707, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Health and Public Safety and Military Affairs,
|
____________________________ NESTOR GARCIA, Chair |
____________________________ DENNIS A. ARAKAKI, Chair |