Hawaii Lawmaker Calls Cannabis Legalization ‘Divisive,’ Kills Adult-Use Bill

A key Hawaii House committee chair called adult-use cannabis legalization a “deeply divisive issue” while dealing defeat to a Senate-passed bill April 2, despite a majority in his chamber providing the go-ahead for a hearing.

The legislation, Senate Bill 3335, passed the Senate on a 19-6 vote March 5 and landed in the Hawaii House Finance Committee for consideration following a 25-23 vote last week on the floor of the lower chamber to allow the bill to move through the committee process.

RELATED: Hawaii Senate Passes Adult-Use Legalization Bill

But House Finance Committee Chair Kyle T. Yamashita, D-Upcountry Maui, issued a statement April 2 saying that his panel will not hold a hearing on the legislation, killing the reform effort for yet another legislative session. As a result, Hawaii will remain the oldest medical-only cannabis market in the nation 24 years after a progressive Hawaii Legislature became the first to legalize medical cannabis via the legislative process in 2000.

“The path to legalizing adult-use cannabis has been a deeply divisive issue,” Yamashita said. “This year marked its furthest progression, with S.B. 3335 narrowly passing its second reading. Due to numerous concerns regarding the implementation of the bill, the House has decided against further deliberation in the House Finance Committee. This decision is strengthened by the prevailing ‘no’ votes from committee members expressed on the House floor.”

While adult-use cannabis legalization may be a divisive issue among Hawaii House lawmakers, it’s not so divisive among the people they represent: A majority (58%) of Hawaii adults support legalizing recreational cannabis, according to a late 2023 Hawai’i Perspectives poll conducted by Pacific Resource Partnership.

The 318-page bill, which largely mirrored a draft bill Democratic Attorney General Anne Lopez’s office sent lawmakers Jan. 5, aimed to allow adults 21 and older to purchase, transport and possess up to 1 ounce of cannabis flower or 5 grams of concentrate beginning Jan. 1, 2026. It also would have established a 14% excise tax on adult-use cannabis sales.

But Yamashita said that during an “abnormally fiscally challenging year,” the Finance Committee should instead focus on and prioritize expenses related to a series of wildfires in August 2023 that swept through Lahaina and Upcountry Maui, killing at least 101 people, according to The Associated Press.

“Ensuring the recovery of our communities continues to come at an extraordinary cost to the state budget, and the full cost of implementing the legalization of adult-use cannabis is unknown,” Yamashita said. “As lawmakers, it would be remiss of us not to allocate funding to safeguard critical government services, including education, infrastructure, roads and other essential services for Hawaiʻi’s residents and kūpuna, especially during a period of fiscal uncertainty.”

This year’s defeat to cannabis reform comes after the Hawaii Senate passed a much shorter 56-page adult-use legalization bill in 2023, only for House Speaker Scott Saiki to block its progress, saying at the time that various committee chairs should gather following that year’s legislative session and come up with a more comprehensive bill that would “address the concerns that are always raised about marijuana use in Hawaii.”

One of the main concerns dealt with law enforcement’s opposition to legalization, Saiki said.

Later that year, when Lopez’s office was tasked with providing the Legislature a more comprehensive draft bill to work from, two of the six “pillars” the attorney general’s office focused on addressing were associated with law enforcement.

Specifically, Lopez’s office suggested a delayed effective date of 18 months for the legalization of adult-use cannabis and the first retail sales in order to allow law enforcement officials to adequately prepare.

“Should the Legislature decide to legalize adult-use cannabis, the draft bill represents our best judgment about how to promote a legal market, minimize risks of societal harm, mitigate damage that does come to pass, avoid liability, and provide workable tools and substantial resources for law enforcement and public-health officials to promote the public welfare,” Lopez said in a public statement Jan. 5.

Still, as the Democratic House leader, Saiki took issue with this year’s comprehensive adult-use legalization bill, stating law enforcement concerns as a key driver for his reservations in a public statement released April 2.

“In hearing the overwhelming testimony and serious concerns from members of Hawaiʻi’s law enforcement industry, this bill requires further consideration of the impact legislation will have on our children, economy and overall well-being,” he said.