STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3100

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.R. No. 37

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2014

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs, to which was referred S.R. No. 37 entitled:

"SENATE RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE DRUG ENFORCEMENT ADMINISTRATION TO REMOVE MARIJUANA FROM SCHEDULE I OF THE FEDERAL CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES ACT IN RECOGNITION THAT MARIJUANA DOES NOT MEET THE CRITERIA OF A FEDERAL SCHEDULE I CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE, AS A CURRENTLY ACCEPTED MEDICAL USE OF MARIJUANA IN TREATMENT EXISTS IN THE UNITED STATES, INCLUDING HAWAII,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to request the Drug Enforcement Administration to remove marijuana from federal schedule I, in recognition of the currently accepted practice in Hawaii and other states of using marijuana for medical treatment purposes.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Health, Americans for Safe Access, Community Alliance on Prisons, Drug Policy Action Group, Epilepsy Foundation of Hawaii, Hawaii Standard and Green Futures, and thirty-nine individuals.  Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Honolulu Police Department.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from five individuals.

     Your Committee finds that under the federal Controlled Substances Act, scheduling under schedule I requires several findings, one of which is that the drug or controlled substance has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States.  Marijuana does not meet the criteria of a federal schedule I controlled substance because using marijuana for medical treatment purposes is authorized in Hawaii and in other states.  The Drug Enforcement Administration, by enforcing an obsolete regulation that classifies marijuana as a federal schedule I controlled substance and ignoring the currently accepted medical use of marijuana in treatment that exists in Hawaii and other states, is preventing Hawaii from creating a state regulated distribution system that complies with federal law.  Removing marijuana from federal schedule I will allow Hawaii to create a state regulated distribution system that will let patients purchase marijuana for medical use.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee concurs with the intent and purpose of S.R. No. 37 and recommends that it be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Labor.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs,

____________________________

WILL ESPERO, Chair