STAND. COM. REP. NO. 343-22

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2022

RE: H.B. No. 2053

H.D. 1

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Health, Human Services, & Homelessness, to which was referred H.B. No. 2053 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CANNABIS FOR MEDICAL USE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to amend the State's medical cannabis dispensary system law to:

(1) Authorize medical cannabis dispensaries to distribute medical cannabis propagules and cuttings by including cannabis propagules and cuttings in the definition of "cannabis";

(2) Authorize only those persons who may cultivate medical cannabis to purchase cannabis propagules and cuttings; and

(3) Impose quantity limits and quality requirements on the distributed propagules and cuttings.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from Maui Grown Therapies, Hawai‘i Cannabis Industry Association, Aloha Green Holdings Inc., Big Island Grown Dispensaries, and Hawaiian Ethos LLC. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Department of Health. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of the Attorney General and Akamai Cannabis Clinic.

Your Committee finds that patients and primary caregivers cultivating medical cannabis at a registered grow site under the State's medical cannabis registry program have no legal way to obtain safe, laboratory-tested genetic material from which to propagate their plants. Your Committee further finds that as a result, qualifying patients or their primary caregivers often obtain propagules, cuttings, or other cannabis genetic material from the illicit market. These materials have not been tested for the presence of pesticides and heavy metals and are of unknown genetic provenance and therapeutic value. This measure provides qualifying patients who choose to cultivate their own cannabis plants with a legal channel to purchase safe, quality-assured cannabis propagules and cuttings with verified therapeutic properties.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Changing the effective date to July 1, 2060, to encourage further discussion; and

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

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Health, Human Services, & Homelessness that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2053, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2053, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Health, Human Services, & Homelessness,

____________________________

RYAN I. YAMANE, Chair