Hawaii lawmakers have passed a bill that would allow patients to access medical cannabis immediately after filing their registrations, rather than waiting for their cards to be delivered, as required by current law.
In a joint hearing of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee and Trade and Consumer Protection Commission on Wednesday, members approved legislation from Sen. Angus McKelvey (D), with an amendment that would reduce the one-time purchase limit for cannabis to one ounce instead of the two ounces the measure would have covered as introduced.
Sen. Joy San Buenaventura (D), chairwoman of the Health and Human Services Committee, said at the hearing that regulators are equipped to track such one-time sales “using administrative rules as appropriate,” and she said she supports this in part from personal experience.
The President said SB 3315 He could help his family because they were helping a terminally ill relative, “where we tried all the prescription capabilities” and “what we really needed was the one-time use.”
“So for those reasons, I will support (the bill) with amendments” to reduce the purchase limit from two ounces to one ounce.
The approval of the measure also comes as a member of parliament Weigh in on proposals to legalize marijuana in the stateimmediate action is expected.
Historically, the Hawaii Senate has been legislatively more accommodating to cannabis reform, and the 2026 session has been no different so far.
That was proven, in part, after senior House lawmakers announced it earlier this month A couple of legislative bills created in the chamber were dead during the year.
Despite renewed proposals — including one from House Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs Committee Chairman David Tarnas (D) that would put legalization before voters on the ballot — to move forward this year, sponsor and House Speaker Nadine Nakamura (D) said there was not enough support in the legislature to pass this round.
State officials released a report last month the potential economic impact of recreational marijuana legalization on the stateincluding the revenue effects associated with domestic and international tourism.
All told, the researchers said survey data and comparative analysis indicate Hawaii could see $46-90 million in monthly marijuana sales in the fifth year of implementation, after taking into account the maximum tax rate of 15 percent on cannabis products.
The Hawaii Senate narrowly defeated a proposal last year that would have increased the amount of cannabis a person could possess without risk of criminal charges by five times.
If the measure had become law, the amount of decriminalized cannabis in Hawaii would have increased from the current 3 grams to 15 grams. Possession of any marijuana up to that 15-gram limit would have been classified as a civil infraction, punishable by a $130 fine.
The Senate bill that would legalize marijuana for adults, on the other hand, has finally stalled. That measure, SB 1613, did not make it out of committee during one term of the legislature.
While advocates believed there was sufficient support for the legalization proposal in the Senate, it is widely believed that House lawmakers would ultimately defeat the measure, as they did last February with a companion legislative bill, HB 1246.
In 2024, a The legislation passed by the Senate also failed in the House.
It came just days after last year’s House vote to stop the bill approval of a pair of committees at a joint hearing. Prior to that hearing, jurors received nearly 300 pages of testimony, including from state agencies, advocacy organizations and members of the public.
Gov. Josh Green (D) signed separate legislation last year allow medical marijuana caregivers to grow marijuana on behalf of five patients than the current one.
And in July, the governor signed another bill Establishes new rules for Hawaiian hemp productsincluding the requirement for distributors and retailers to obtain registration from the Department of Health.
Legislators also sent a bill to the governor help speed up the expungement process for people who want to clear their past marijuana-related criminal records– a proposal Green signed the law last April.
This measure, HB 132, of Tarnas, aims to speed up the abolition Green’s pilot program signed into law in 2024. Specifically, it will remove a distinction between marijuana and other Schedule V drugs for the purposes of the decriminalization program.
The bill’s sponsors said the law’s current wording forces state officials to manually comb through thousands of criminal records to identify those eligible for expungement in the pilot program.
Meanwhile, in November, Hawaii officials detailed the rules allow medical marijuana dispensaries to sell a wide range of products for patients— including dry herb vaporizers, rolling papers and grinders — while revising state code to clarify that cannabis oils and concentrates can be marketed for inhalation.
The department as well He confirmed that he is in favor of federal marijuana reorganization– The policy change that President Donald Trump ordered to be carried out quickly, but which has not yet been implemented.
Hawaii lawmakers recently advanced a bill allow eligible patients to access medical marijuana in healthcare facilities.
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Regulators are also launching a series of courses designed for this purpose educate doctors and other healthcare professionals about medical marijuana as the state’s cannabis program expands.
The under the medical marijuana expansion bill signed by the governor In late June, it not only makes it easier for more patients to access cannabis, but also contains a provision that advocates find problematic.
Before lawmakers sent the legislation to Green, a conference committee revised the plan, including a provision allowing the DOH to access medical marijuana patient records held by doctors for any reason.