<strong>Hawaii rejected marijuana law and postponed legalization of adult use</strong>
Legislature denied a legislative proposal to bring recreational marijuana to the islands
By El Planteo
In the US, Hawaii abandoned the legalization of marijuana for adult use this year. The state's House of Representatives denied a legislative proposal to bring recreational marijuana to the islands.
Although gaining approval from the Hawaiian Senate, the law endorsing adult use and establishing a regulatory framework for adult use was not approved. According to MJBizDaily, three proposals to legalize cannabis have already been rejected.
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House Speaker Scott Saiki said he believes it is best for the state to wait to approve adult use and that a group needs to be formed to work on the issue. But the Senate had already studied the bill and proposed a series of amendments to implement the measure; among them, fines for lack of license and blocking of advertising reaching young people.
Although Democrats are statistically more likely than Republicans to support cannabis legalization efforts, in Hawaii they have a history of rejecting such measures, as explained by High Times. Democrats are the majority in both houses of the state legislature. And while Governor Josh Green has shown his acceptance of marijuana, he also belongs to the same party. Therefore, he must mediate between his peers to promote the law, in addition to the fact that public acceptance of marijuana for adult use is at 52%, according to a survey released earlier this year.
In previous comments, Governor Green had said: “This is what I would do: first, if marijuana is legalized, it must be controlled very carefully (...) just like tobacco. We should take the $30 to $40 million in taxes we would receive from this and invest in the development and recreation of our mental health system, for the good of all."
It seems that the governor does not hesitate to sign, but wants to ensure that it safeguards public safety and users, and ensures product quality through testing and monitoring.