STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2704

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2024

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirtieth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2020

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 2024 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO MEDICAL CANNABIS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Allow for a process to remediate any batch of cannabis that fails laboratory testing standards so long as any final product passes all such laboratory standards;

(2) Authorize licensed retail dispensaries to sell edible cannabis products under certain conditions; and

(3) Authorize licensed dispensaries to circulate, sponsor, and promote educational and scientific information and events related to cannabis.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawai‘i Cannabis Industry Association, Aloha Green Holdings Inc., Crop to Kitchen, Kush Bottles Hawaii, and eight individuals. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Honolulu Police Department and three individuals. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of the Attorney General, Department of Health, and Akamai Cannabis Clinic.

Your Committee finds that the regulated statewide dispensary system for medical cannabis was established on July 14, 2015, as Act 241, Session Laws of Hawaii 2015, to ensure safe and legal access to medical cannabis of qualifying patients. Since then, the experience of the program indicates that improvements to the law will help to clarify its original intent by ensuring smooth administration of the law and allowing for adequate patient access based on experiences in other states.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Clarifying that the Department of Health shall consider requests from a licensed medical cannabis dispensary to allow the remediation of a batch of medical cannabis or manufactured medical cannabis product, under certain conditions;

(2) Clarifying the definition of "edible cannabis products" to mean manufactured cannabis products intended for gastrointestinal administration of any cannabinoid extracted from the cannabis plant and regulated as manufactured cannabis products and not as "food";

(3) Inserting language that requires all medical cannabis products to be regulated and approved by the Department of Health and meet certain requirements established by rules;

(4) Inserting language that establishes certain requirements for the Department of Health relating to edible cannabis products;

(5) Clarifying that the Department of Health is authorized to allow dispensaries to provide, sponsor, and promote educational and scientific information and events related to cannabis; and

(6) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2024, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2024, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Judiciary.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health,

________________________________

ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair