[420 Girl]

With the state facing a $1.2 billion budget shortfall, Maui Sen. J. Kalani English figured the timing could be right this session to ease up on marijuana.

After all, his bill to decriminalize possession of less than an ounce of marijuana is expected to save the state about $6.2 million–the amount now spent to enforce possession laws and process offenders through the courts. And his legislation giving counties the authority to set up dispensaries–aka “compassion centers”–for medical cannabis patients will generate additional revenues through a $30 per ounce tax, to be split 50-50 by the state and counties.

“The counties should be very interested in this because really, right now the counties have only two forms of raising revenues,” English said. One is property taxes and the other is the transient occupancy tax (TAT), which is shared with the state, unless lawmakers decide otherwise.

But while money may be the carrot to entice votes, it isn’t the only issue. Although Hawaii was the first state in the nation to approve medical marijuana, the only legal way for patients to get the substance is to either grow it themselves or have it done by a registered caretaker. That approach isn’t working well for some of the 5,700-plus patients now authorized to use marijuana, and transporting marijuana between islands is also problematic.

“It’s time for us to frankly and openly discuss this issue and also move it forward,” English said. “I think we have to have the compassion to provide medicine to people who need it.”

The bill, SB2213 Draft 1, allows the centers to cultivate and sell marijuana and plants to patients and their caregivers, while giving each county the authority to establish such centers. The measure is up for a vote by the Senate Ways and Means Committee on Thursday.

Although some Hawaii police and prosecutors have opposed the proposal, citing concerns about increased crime and enforcement, it’s gotten support from medical marijuana patients and the Drug Policy Forum of Hawaii.

Sen. Brian Taniguchi, chair of the Judiciary Committee, meanwhile, has scheduled a hearing for SB 2450, the decriminalization bill, at 11am Thursday. The bill was co-sponsored by 20 of Hawaii’s 25 senators.

“For me, it’s really a public policy call,” English said. “ Sending somebody to jail for a small amount of marijuana is a failed policy.”

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