STAND. COM. REP. NO 534

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 209

       S.D. 1

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred S.B. No. 209 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO DRUGS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to expand the offense of promoting a dangerous drug in the first degree to include possession of one or more preparations, compounds, mixtures, or substances of an aggregate weight of fifty or more capsules, tablets, ampules, dosage units, or syrettes containing one or more dangerous drugs.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Public Safety; Department of the Prosecuting Attorney, County of Maui; Office of the Prosecuting Attorney, County of Kauai; Honolulu Police Department, City and County of Honolulu; and Maui Police Department, County of Maui.  Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Office of the Public Defender.

     Your Committee finds that under existing law, for a person to be charged with promoting a dangerous drug in the first degree for possession of a pharmaceutical controlled substance, the suspect must possess one ounce or more of a Schedule II pharmaceutical controlled substance.  However, Schedule II pharmaceutical controlled substances are in various forms, including pills, capsules, and syringes.  This measure recognizes these various forms by expanding the offense of promoting a dangerous drug in the first degree to include possession of fifty or more capsules, tablets, ampules, dosage units, or syrettes containing one or more dangerous drugs.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Clarifying that the offense includes possession of fifty or more capsules, tablets, ampules, dosage units, or syrettes containing one or more dangerous drugs rather than the aggregate weight of fifty or more capsules, ampules, dosage units, or syrettes;

     (2)  Inserting an effective date of January 7, 2059, to encourage further discussion; and

     (3)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary and Labor that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 209, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 209, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary and Labor,

____________________________

GILBERT S.C. KEITH-AGARAN, Chair