Hawai’i legislature disappoints!

Hawai’i is lagging behind the entire West Coast and the wish of its voters by continuing to prohibit cannabis. The Aloha State also has the most restrictive decriminalization law in the nation — anything over three grams continues to carry possible jail time and a criminal record. Hundreds of individuals are still arrested each year as a result.    

Hawai’i narrowly missed an opportunity to legalize and regulate adult-use cannabis in 2024, with a Senate-passed bill dying in the House Finance Committee after clearing three other House committees. In 2025, both the Hawai’i House of Representatives and Senate let down voters, with legalization bills — HB 1426 and SB 1613 — stalling in committees.

Write to your lawmakers to let them know it’s past time to end the failed and destructive war on cannabis.

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Bills to expand decriminalization (SB 319 and HB 217) also fell short this year. Some reforms are still alive, including a bill to facilitate the pilot expungement law (HB 132), and bills to modify medical cannabis and hemp laws in a variety of ways.

2024 Legislative Recap: limited expungement bills become law

In 2024, legalization got the furthest it has ever gotten in the Hawai’i Legislature, but it died just short of the finish line. Meanwhile, a bill to dramatically expand the decriminalization law passed both chambers, before the Senate killed the final version in a shocking vote. In brighter news, bills to begin state-initiated expungement were signed into law. The Hawai’i Senate passed a legalization bill, SB 3335, SD 2, by a lopsided, 19-6 margin on March 6, 2024. For the first time, legalization received committee hearings in the House, where it passed three committees and two House floor votes. Unfortunately, it was never given a hearing in House Finance, where most members had voted against the bill on floor votes, and it died for the year.

The House and Senate also passed different versions of SB 2487, which would have expanded decriminalization from a paltry three grams (under ⅛ ounce) to 15 grams (in the Senate-passed version) or one ounce (in the House version). After the House killed the Senate-passed legalization bill, however, the Senate shockingly voted down the House version of SB 2487. Hundreds of arrests will continue as a result.

Meanwhile, the House and Senate passed, and Gov. Josh Green signed limited first steps for expungement — HB 1595 and SB 2706.  HB 1595 creates a pilot program in Hawaii County for non-conviction cannabis possession arrests. SB 2706 will create a Clean Slate Task Force to consider broader state-initiated expungements, including for convictions and non-cannabis offenses.

Hawaii’s medical cannabis program

In 2000, Hawai’i became the first state in the nation to pass a medical cannabis law through the legislature — rather than the citizen initiative process. Since then, the program has been revised and expanded, including to expand qualifying conditions, to provide protections for out-of-state patients, and to allow dispensaries.

You can learn more about the program from the Medical Cannabis Registry Program. You can find qualifying conditions here and retail dispensary locations here.

While the law has inched forward over the years, it still falls far short in some areas. Unlike most other medical cannabis states, Hawaii’s medical cannabis patients can still be fired for testing positive for cannabis.

Hawaii’s Limited “Decriminalization” Law

In 2019, then-governor David Ige signed into law an extremely limited “decriminalization” law.

The law reduced the penalty for three grams of cannabis to a $130 civil fine, with no jail time. While the bill was a step forward, it remains far behind the times. The law covers the smallest amount of cannabis in the country and the fine is among the highest. Most other “decriminalization” (and legalization) laws apply to at least an ounce of cannabis, or 28.3 grams.

Hawai’i voters want more comprehensive reform. A winter of 2023/2024 poll found 58% support for legalization. While more than half of Americans — including the entire West Coast— live in states where cannabis is legal for adults, Hawai’i remains an anomaly.

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