Hawaii: Senate Voting on Medical Marijuana Bill Next Week 4/21/00

Drug War Chronicle, recent top items

more...

recent blog posts "In the Trenches" activist feed

SUBSCRIBE TODAY!!!

Hawaii's medical marijuana bill, S.B. 862, is expected to face a final vote in the state Senate sometime between Monday and Thursday of next week, April 24-27. Last month, the Senate passed an earlier version of the bill with a 13-12 vote. If only one Senator changes his or her vote from "yes" to "no," the bill will fail. If the bill passes again, then Gov. Cayetano, who has supported it all again, has promised to sign it, and medical marijuana patients in Hawaii could have the right to legally grow and use marijuana as soon as early May.

If you live in Hawaii, then PLEASE CONTACT YOUR STATE SENATOR TODAY! Just visit http://www.mpp.org/Hawaii/ and take just two minutes or less to send a free e-mail or fax to your Hawaii state Senator. While you are doing that, please write down your Senator's phone number (the system will display it) and call as well, or call the Hawaii public access room at (808) 587-0478.

PLEASE TELL EVERYONE YOU KNOW IN HAWAII WHO MIGHT SUPPORT THE RIGHT OF PATIENTS WHO NEED MARIJUANA MEDICINALLY TO NOT BE ARRESTED FOR IT. Whether you are from Hawaii or not, you can use the web sites "tell-a-friend" form to let them know to visit http://www.mpp.org/Hawaii/ or forward this alert directly.

S.B. 862 would provide protection from arrest and imprisonment to patients who use and grow medical marijuana with their doctors' approval and physicians who make such recommendations, similar to the ballot initiatives that have passed in Alaska, California, Maine, Oregon, and Washington state, provisionally in Nevada (initiatives must pass twice there) and in Washington, DC (law's status still in limbo).

The initial version of this bill passed the Hawaii House of Representatives on March 7 by a vote of 32-18 vote. The same day, the Hawaii Senate passed a slightly different bill 13-12. The 13 "yes" votes in the Senate consisted of 11 Democrats and 2 Republicans, Anderson (R), Bunda, Chumbley, Fukunaga, Hanabusa, Ihara, Kanno, Levin, Matsunaga, Mizuguchi, Oakland, Slom (R) and Taniguchi. The 12 "no" votes, all Democrats opposing medical marijuana, were Buen, Chun, D. Ige, M. Ige, Iwase, Inouye, Kawamoto, Matsuura, Nakata, Sakamoto, Tam and Tanaka. The current version of S.B. 862 was passed by the House on April 11 by a vote of 29-20.

Most of the information in this article was provided by the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP). This Hawaii medical marijuana alert site, http://www.mpp.org/Hawaii/, is sponsored by MPP, DRCNet and the Drug Policy Forum of Hawaii (http://www.drugsense.org/dpfhi/).

-- END --
Link to Drug War Facts
Please make a generous donation to support Drug War Chronicle in 2007!          

PERMISSION to reprint or redistribute any or all of the contents of Drug War Chronicle (formerly The Week Online with DRCNet is hereby granted. We ask that any use of these materials include proper credit and, where appropriate, a link to one or more of our web sites. If your publication customarily pays for publication, DRCNet requests checks payable to the organization. If your publication does not pay for materials, you are free to use the materials gratis. In all cases, we request notification for our records, including physical copies where material has appeared in print. Contact: StoptheDrugWar.org: the Drug Reform Coordination Network, P.O. Box 18402, Washington, DC 20036, (202) 293-8340 (voice), (202) 293-8344 (fax), e-mail [email protected]. Thank you.

Articles of a purely educational nature in Drug War Chronicle appear courtesy of the DRCNet Foundation, unless otherwise noted.

Issue #134, 4/21/00 Raise Your Voice! Students with Drug Convictions Losing Financial Aid July 1st | Hawaii: Senate Voting on Medical Marijuana Bill Next Week | New York: Letters Needed, Protests Mobilizing, Hearings Scheduled | Washington State: Medical Marijuana Sign-on Letter in Legislature | Stop the Helicopters | Upcoming Events | Job Opportunities

This issue -- main page
This issue -- single-file printer version
Drug War Chronicle -- main page
Chronicle archives
Out from the Shadows HEA Drug Provision Drug War Chronicle Perry Fund DRCNet en Español Speakeasy Blogs About Us Home
Why Legalization? NJ Racial Profiling Archive Subscribe Donate DRCNet em Português Latest News Drug Library Search
special friends links: SSDP - Flex Your Rights - IAL - Drug War Facts

StoptheDrugWar.org: the Drug Reform Coordination Network (DRCNet)
1623 Connecticut Ave., NW, 3rd Floor, Washington DC 20009 Phone (202) 293-8340 Fax (202) 293-8344 [email protected]