WIDE RANGE OF MARIJUANA BILLS OFFERED

WAILUKU - South Maui state Rep. Joe Bertram III is HIV positive and
holds a medical-marijuana card as a caregiver. So he understands
firsthand the challenges associated with trying to procure the drug
for medicinal purposes as well as the resistance to reforming Hawaii's
marijuana laws.

But in the last legislative session and in the one that got under way
Wednesday, Bertram's once-lonesome call for change has become a
chorus. More than 20 bills related to restructuring and often relaxing
marijuana drug laws are up for discussion.

Maui lawmakers who supported some of the measures or even authored
them include Upcountry Rep. Kyle Yamashita; Central Maui Reps. Gil
Keith-Agaran and Joe Souki; West Maui Rep. Angus McKelvey; and Sen. J.
Kalani English, who represents East Maui, Upcountry, Lanai and Molokai.

McKelvey said he's heard marijuana is a $1 billion underground
industry, and he's open to examining whether to legalize and tax it as
the state does with cigarettes.

"You know, at this point, everything is on the table," he
said.

Last session, the Legislature passed a law to form a medical-marijuana
task force to study obstacles patients must overcome to obtain
medicinal marijuana. Republican Gov. Linda Lingle vetoed the measure,
saying the state doesn't have the money for such folly. The
Legislature overrode her veto, but so far she has refused to put the
task force together.

"We need to make the laws clearer," Bertram said. "We have to take all
the guesswork out because the interpretation has been up to law
enforcement so far."

This lawmaking session features bills, most either authored or
co-sponsored by Bertram, to establish general-excise taxes for the
drug, and allow family farmers and nonprofits to grow marijuana, or
cannabis, as Bertram prefers it be called.

Bertram said he expects House Speaker Calvin Say to introduce a
comprehensive marijuana bill that would allow family farms to grow
marijuana, as long as it is organic and regulated by scientists. The
marijuana would be sold by nonprofits via dispensaries.

"It follows California (laws) but is tighter as far as controls go,"
Bertram said.

Other measures being considered by lawmakers would:

* Allow parolees and people on probation to use medical marijuana if
they have a doctor's prescription and a user card.

* Make the state Department of Health responsible for overseeing the
growing of medical marijuana as well as the management and operation
of dispensaries.

* Transfer the medical-marijuana-registry program, which has 4,000
patients, from the state Department of Public Safety's Narcotics
Division to the Health Department. The latter would have the authority
to license medical-marijuana dispensaries.

* Require medical-marijuana card recipients to pay a $50 registration
fee as well as general-excise taxes on marijuana purchases from
dispensaries.

* Change the terminology from "medical marijuana" to "medical
cannabis."

* Give medical-marijuana patients the same rights to data privacy as
other patients.

* Direct the state attorney general to review the impact of diverting
marijuana and other low-level felony drug offenders out of the
criminal-justice system and into treatment programs instead.

* Create a medical-marijuana-stamp tax. Licensed distributors would
need to purchase a 50-cent stamp from the state for every gram of
marijuana sold.

* Establish a new medical-marijuana record-keeping system on the state
level.

Other requirements would include proof of a physical examination by a
doctor to get a medical-marijuana card and stiffer penalties for those
found abusing the system.