HAWAII CANNABIS DAY
Formally known as Medical Cannabis Day, with an updated name and logo to reflect greater inclusivity of diverse special interests that can unite to Respect the Medicine.
Updated Apr 22, 2024
Hawaii Cannabis Day 2024 - June 14 (Friday)
The purpose of Medical Cannabis Day is to honor our patients and recognize their right to engage in the state authorized medical use of Cannabis in Hawaii through advocacy and education.
June 14, 2022 (Tuesday)
This year patient advocacy groups across the State will be organizing their own local Medical Cannabis Day Events. Please check social media for events in your County.
June 14, 2021 (Monday, Flag Day)
MCD 2021 VIRTUAL EVENT
Hawaii Medical Cannabis Day 2020
June 14, 2020 (Sunday)
20 years of medical use in 2020
COUNTY PROCLAMATIONS
County of Kauai - Mayor Kawakami
County of Hawaii - Mayor Kim
City and County of Honolulu - Mayor Caldwell
County of Maui - Mayor Victorino
Congresswoman Gabbard Flag Flying Request - Submitted May 9, 2020
Hawaii Medical Cannabis Day 2020 T-shirts
CHALLENGE COIN DESIGN
MEDICAL CANNABIS PROGRAMS BY STATE
References
Definition of Medical Cannabis
med·i·cal can·na·bis noun
\ ˈme-di-kəl ˈka-nə-bəs \
Cannabis that is authorized under state law for medical use.
Hawaii Medical Cannabis Day: June 14, 2019
2019 Commemorative T-shirt
Local Events
2019 Proclamation Request
Proclamation Request Update (May 29, 2019): Aloha and thank you for contacting the Office of Governor David Ige to request a commemorative message from the governor. Unfortunately, our office will not be able to accommodate your request for Medical Cannabis Day at this time. We hope to be able to assist you in the future.
Flag Flying Request Update (May 22, 2019): Thank you for reaching out to Congresswoman Gabbard regarding your Flag request. We are honored to serve you. This request will be submitted around June 4th due to the fly date of June 14, 2019. You will receive a heads up when we mail it out to you, which should be approximately June 28th . The flag office requires that we give them at least 10 -14 days to process the flag once it has been flown. Please feel free to call our office if you have any questions.
INTRODUCTION
The legislature finds that modern medical research has discovered a beneficial use of marijuana in treating or alleviating the pain or other symptoms associated with certain debilitating illnesses. There is sufficient medical and anecdotal evidence to support the proposition that these diseases and conditions may respond favorably to a medically controlled use of marijuana.
The legislature is aware of the legal problems associated with the legal acquisition of marijuana for medical use. However, the legislature believes that medical scientific evidence on the medicinal benefits of marijuana should be recognized. Although federal law expressly prohibits the use of marijuana, the legislature recognizes that a number of states are taking the initiative in legalizing the use of marijuana for medical purposes. Voter initiatives permitting the medial use of marijuana have passed in California, Arizona, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Maine, Nevada, and the District of Columbia.
The legislature intends to join in this initiative for the health and welfare of its citizens. However, the legislature does not intend to legalize marijuana for other than medical purposes.
The passage of this Act and the policy underlying it does not in any way diminish the legislature’s strong public policy and laws against illegal drug use.
Therefore, the purpose of this Act is to ensure that seriously ill people are not penalized by the State for the use of marijuana for strictly medical purposes when the patient’s treating physician provides a professional opinion that the benefits of medical use of marijuana would likely outweigh the health risks for the qualifying patient.
Be a supporter of state authorized use, not an agent of misplaced federal supremacy.
Hawaii Medical Cannabis Day postcards delivered at the State Capitol on May 14, 2019
A Brief History of Hawaii’s Program
Following adoption of the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA) in 1970, the State of Hawaii, along with all the other states in the Union, adopted a complimentary system at the state level in order to harmonize the state and federal regulation of controlled substances.
However, in keeping with its own authority under federalism, Hawaii did not adopt the version of the Uniform Controlled Substances Act (UCSA) that was recommended by the Uniform Law Commission. Instead, Hawaii created its own version of the UCSA that contains a completely different set of scheduling criteria that have nothing to do with "accepted medical use".
Furthermore, unlike the federal CSA, where administration of the Act is based upon separate federal regulations, Hawaii's UCSA places scheduling criteria and scheduling classifications both within the statute itself.
In addition, Hawaii's UCSA also contains a legislative process that allows for the annual matching of state and federal scheduling changes. This process has been used to create the impression that the state and federal scheduling of controlled substances must always be the same, even though Hawaii's scheduling criteria are completely different than the federal criteria, and even though Hawaii's UCSA allows the Department of Public Safety (PSD) to make annual scheduling recommendations to the Legislature based on changes in state law, and authorizes the Legislature to adjust the state scheduling of controlled substances independent of federal changes.
In 2000, without consulting with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Hawaii exercised its authority to decide how cannabis is regulated within the State, and authorized, via the legislative process, the medical use of cannabis in Hawaii for the very first time.
Despite the original intent of our lawmakers to have Hawaii's Medical Use of Cannabis Program housed within the Department of Health (DOH), administration of the program was instead given to the Narcotics Enforcement Division (NED), a branch of PSD, which created a direct conflict of interests with NED's dual jurisdiction enforcement obligations. It took fifteen years for Hawaii's Medical Use of Cannabis Program to be moved to DOH.
Hawaii's program, as it was originally implemented, restricted the production of cannabis to patients and caregivers who met certain eligibility criteria set by the state, and required ongoing medical supervision by a certifying physician. Because patients are the ultimate user of a controlled substance in this case, they are not required to obtain separate state controlled substances registration from NED.
Given the non-uniformity of its own UCSA, Hawaii was also able to leave cannabis in state Schedule I because Hawaii's scheduling criteria do not require a consideration of accepted medical use. This inconsistency with the federal CSA offered a convenient way to continue the annual matching of state and federal scheduling without addressing the state scheduling of cannabis, and encouraged a tradition of ignoring the fact that substances with medical use cannot have the "highest degree of danger". In addition, Hawaii’s Medical Use of Cannabis Act exempts the state authorized medical use of cannabis in Hawaii from the criminal penalties associated with the illegal use of a state Schedule I controlled substance, providing another reason why Cannabis does not need to be rescheduled at the state level in Hawaii.
For fifteen years the program remained under the administration of NED, until DOH finally took over the program in the beginning of 2015. Then, later that same year, a state-regulated dispensary system that allowed for the commercial production and distribution of cannabis for medical use was adopted under state law. Eight dispensary applicants spread throughout the Hawaiian Islands (3 on Oahu, 2 on Hawaii, 2 on Maui, and 1 on Kauai) were subsequently selected for state licensing in April of 2016 using a merit-based application process. Nearly a year and a half later, a dispensary on Maui was the first to open its doors to patients in August of 2017. Since that time, seven other dispensaries have also started serving patients, all doing so in direct violation of federal drug law. Even with the protections provided by the annual Congressional appropriations rider, previously known as the Rohrabacher-Farr Amendment, dispensaries are still considered drug traffickers by the federal government, which means they cannot use regular banking services or deduct standard business expenses from their federal tax returns, resulting in a 70% tax burden that is being passed on to patients.
Luckily, our state Legislature decided to take action on this issue during the Regular Session of 2021 when it unanimously adopted HCR132, which asked DOH to begin working on a federal waiver from the DEA for the state authorized use of cannabis in Hawaii, so that our patients and dispensaries would no longer need to violate federal law to participate in Hawaii’s Medical Cannabis Program. We are now waiting for DOH’s compliance with this request.
Certain inconsistencies also exist within Hawaii's Medical Use of Cannabis Act itself, such as supposedly prohibiting the inter-island transportation of cannabis for medical use by patients, while at the same time authorizing dispensaries to transport material between islands for testing purposes, which exposes cannabis samples to irregular shipping methods that can degrade sample integrity and jeopardize patient safety, despite the federal regulation (14 CFR 91.19) that allows Cannabis to be transported aboard aircraft if authorized by state law.
Ultimately, it is our patients who are losing out under the current climate of dis-regulation. In Hawaii, tens of thousands of registered patients are at risk of being discriminated against for violating federal drug law, and tens of thousands more potential patients are hesitant to enroll for fear of federal consequences.
Hawaii Medical Cannabis Day is one way we can recognize the difficulties that are patients are facing under the ongoing federal conflict, and raise awareness about the need to do something more than simply wait for Father Fed to magically make everything right again.