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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
H.C.R. NO. |
49 |
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TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2008 |
H.D. 2 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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HOUSE CONCURRENT
RESOLUTION
REQUESTING THE MAYOR AND COUNTY COUNCIL OF MAUI TO EVALUATE AND, IF LEGALLY PERMISSIBLE AND PROPER UNDER STATE LAW, TO IMPLEMENT VARIOUS MEASURES REGARDING MEDICAL MARIJUANA IN THE COUNTY OF MAUI.
WHEREAS, Chapter 329, Hawaii Revised Statutes, notes that marijuana has viable and effective medicinal attributes and provides that medical marijuana certificate cardholders are permitted to acquire, cultivate, and possess an "adequate supply" of their medicine, however, the law is not clear on how a patient is to acquire their medicine without going to the illegal and unregulated criminal market; and
WHEREAS, sending patients to the dangerous criminal market to acquire their medicine is not in the interest of public safety or the State of Hawaii; and
WHEREAS, the National Institute on Drug Abuse provides a standard dose of useable marijuana to patients in the Compassionate Investigational New Drug research program, and the federal government has established that a medical marijuana patient’s adequate supply is 6.63 pounds per year; and
WHEREAS, it is estimated that over 90 percent of the legal medical marijuana cardholders of the County of Maui cannot meet their own medical needs because of theft, bugs, mold, and reliance on an unethical, unregulated, illegal black market; and
WHEREAS, there is information that has been provided that family farmers of the County of Maui (agriculturally-zoned landowners) are able to supply the medical needs of the community; now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-fourth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2008, the Senate concurring, that the Mayor and the County Council of Maui are requested to evaluate and, if legally permissible and proper under state law, to implement various measures regarding medical marijuana, including developing a Maui County Family Farmer Medical Marijuana Regulation and Revenue Program to tax, regulate, and provide safe access to medical marijuana that would:
(1) License qualified family farmers in designated agricultural zones to accommodate up to 200 qualifying patients in a secure location;
(2) Create an allotment system allowing agriculturally-zoned family farmers on the island of Maui to supply the medical marijuana needs of Maui by securing and leasing out plots of land to individual patients in which money will only be exchanged over the land lease and require a five-year organic farm plan based on at least two organic crops, the first of which should be medical marijuana and the second of which should be another organic crop to be determined by the Department of Agriculture; and
(3) Create a community oversight committee to administer implementation of the program, promulgate rules, investigate and discuss procedures to obtain licenses, focus on growing standards, and develop a legal distribution system, and request guidance from the Legislature as needed;
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BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Director of the Office of Public Safety, Director of Health, Chairperson of the Board of Agriculture, or their designees, be included in the Community Oversight Committee; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Mayor of the County of Maui and Chairperson of the County Council of Maui.
Medical Marijuana; County of Maui Initiatives