HR49 HD1

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 the 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, over 90 percent of the legal medical marijuana cardholders of Maui County cannot meet their own medical needs because of theft, bugs, mold, and reliance on an unethical, unregulated, illegal black market; and

WHEREAS, the Maui County family farmers (agriculturally-zoned landowners) are able to supply the medical needs of the community; and

WHEREAS, criminal theft and eradication under color of state law of medical marijuana plants remains one of the biggest problems for medical marijuana patients; and

WHEREAS, Maui County needs a cash crop to be able to keep the family farmer on the land and the revenue from licensing and taxing the lease of secured land for the growth of individual medical marijuana patients would help fund vital Maui County services; and

WHEREAS, it is the hope of many people of Maui that federal law reform will eliminate the problems and costs caused by the prohibition of the marijuana plant, which has created far greater problems than those attributed to the plant itself; and

WHEREAS, the County of Maui has been, and remains absolutely committed to the protection of civil rights and civil liberties for all of its residents and has affirmed its commitment to embody democracy and to embrace, defend, and uphold the inalienable rights and fundamental liberties granted by the United State’s Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Hawaii State Constitution, and the Maui County Charter; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-fourth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2008, that the Mayor and the County Council of Maui are strongly urged to implement various measures regarding medical marijuana including:

(1) Developing a Maui County Family Farmer Medical Marijuana Regulation and Revenue Program to tax, regulate and provide safe access to medical marijuana that would:

(A) License qualified family farmers in designated agricultural zones to accommodate up to 200 qualifying patients in a secure location;

(B) 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 requiring 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 State Department of Agriculture; and

(C) 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; and

(2) Advocating for legislative change to further legalize medical use of marijuana at the State and the federal levels; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Director of the Office of Public Safety or designee, Director of Health or designee, Director of the Department of Agriculture or designee be part of the Community Oversight Committee; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Mayor of Maui County and Chairperson of the Maui County Council.

Report Title:

Medical Marijuana; Maui County Initiatives

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.R. NO.	49
TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2008		H.D. 1
STATE OF HAWAII