Hawaii Laws and Programs

[Page 355]Distinguished as the birthplace of President Barack Obama, and historically heralded as a natural paradise, Hawaii has modeled a somewhat progressive approach to—and in some respects, even a laissez faire attitude toward—drug laws and drug programs. At the dawn of the new millennium, Hawaii became the first U.S. state to legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes through the legislative process, and the first state to adopt “treatment instead of incarceration” legislation, in the tradition of “Prop 36,” the Substance Abuse and Crime Prevention Act of 2000. In 2003 a Hawaiian student drug-testing bill was defeated, succumbing to pressure from parents and civil liberties groups. Hawaii lawmakers overrode Republican Governor Linda Lingle's veto of a 2008 bill that enabled the state to become the sixth to enroll in a program that allows residents to purchase lower-cost prescription drugs from other countries. In 2010 Hawaii unveiled a free discount prescription drug card program in response to the state having lost its status as having the fewest uninsured residents in the country.

Acknowledging such precedents is not to say that there are no punitive or intrusive Hawaiian drug policies. In 2007 Governor Lingle refused to retract a teacher drug-testing policy, despite the American Civil Liberties Union's condemnation of it as a violation of constitutional rights to privacy, and as “ineffective and costly.” Approximately 13,500 public school employees have been randomly tested for drugs.

It should be noted that Hawaii is an ethnically and socioeconomically diverse state, with unique needs in terms of drug abuse education and treatment. Geography and demographics create a unique Hawaiian drug culture: the state is home to some of the world's most significant marijuana trafficking, and it is the premier location in the United States for high-grade marijuana production. Crystal meth is becoming the most widely used drug in the state, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), with a significant jump in use and manufacture in Honolulu. Ecstasy (MDMA) is widely used among the 78,000 armed forces troops stationed in Hawaii.

The Hawaiian senate overwhelmingly passed, by veto-proof margins, two bills in 2010 to enhance medical marijuana laws: SB 2213 allows counties to license medical marijuana dispensaries; and SB 2141 increased the ratio of plants, ounces, and caregivers allowed for each medical marijuana patient.

Also passed by a veto-proof margin, SB 2450 removes criminal penalties for possession of up to one ounce of marijuana and replaces those penalties with a civil fine for a first offense and $500 for a subsequent offense. The cost savings of decriminalizing recreational marijuana use, a clear motive in promoting it, is low in Hawaii, due to the apparent de facto policy of lax enforcement of pre-existing state laws.