HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.C.R. NO.	141
TWENTY-FIFTH LEGISLATURE, 2009
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

requesting the Legislative Reference Bureau to study the issue of establishing a state facility to grow and distribute marijuana for medical use in hawaii.

     WHEREAS, in 2000, the Legislature found that modern medical research had established a beneficial use for marijuana in treating or alleviating the pain or other symptoms associated with certain debilitating illnesses; and

WHEREAS, however, to protect the health and welfare of individuals, the Legislature also recognized the need to regulate medical use of marijuana; and

WHEREAS, as a result, regulation of the medical use of marijuana was enacted into law in 2000 by Act 228, Session Laws of Hawaii 2000, and codified in chapter 329, part IX, Hawaii Revised Statutes; and

WHEREAS, in 2004, the Legislative Reference Bureau issued Report No. 4, entitled In Search of a Viable Distribution System for Hawaii's Medical Marijuana Program, that concluded that Hawaii's law, as it then existed, did not authorize establishment of a system to distribute marijuana for medical use; and

     WHEREAS, substantial obstacles continue to prevent the establishment of a system to distribute marijuana for medical use in Hawaii, not the least of which is the ruling of the United States Supreme Court on June 6, 2005, in Gonzalez v. Raich 545 U.S. 1 (2005), that upheld the validity of the Controlled Substances Act as a permissable exercise of federal power and affirmed that Congress may ban the use of marijuana even where states approve its use for medicinal purposes; and

WHEREAS, a persistent criticism of Hawaii's medical marijuana law is that patients who are authorized to use marijuana for medical purposes but are unable to grow their own supply are forced to acquire a supply on the "black market"; now, therefore,

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-fifth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2009, the Senate concurring, that the Legislative Reference Bureau is requested to study the issue of establishing a state facility to grow and distribute marijuana for medical use in Hawaii; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislative Reference Bureau is requested to include an examination of the financial risks and benefits of establishing such a state facility; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Director of the Legislative Reference Bureau, the Director of Public Safety, the Director of Health, and the Comptroller.

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title: 

Study; State Facility to Grow and Distribute Medical Marijuana