Although an adult-use cannabis legalization bill crumbled earlier this year in Hawaii, state lawmakers are now pushing legislation that would expand access to medical cannabis to just about anyone.

The Senate adopted an amended version of House Bill 302 in a 24-1 vote on April 8. Sponsored by Rep. Gregg Takayama, D-Pearl City, the legislation aims to amend Hawaii’s definition of a debilitating medical condition to mean any condition determined as “appropriate” by a certifying physician or advanced practice registered nurse (APRN) for the use of medical cannabis.

In other words, health care providers could recommend medical cannabis for any condition they see fit—from minor headaches to trouble sleeping—instead of being limited to the state’s current list of qualifying conditions.

The Hawaii Department of Health (DOH) provided testimony on April 1, indicating that while its officials support allowing health care providers to use their professional judgment in diagnosing and treating patients, the department was concerned with opening the scope of the state’s medical cannabis conditions.

“There is limited scientific evidence supporting the use of cannabis for conditions beyond those currently listed in statute,” DOH officials wrote. “The department is particularly concerned about potential risks to patient safety, including adverse drug interactions between cannabis and a patient’s existing treatment plan.”

Furthermore, the DOH opposed allowing a patient’s non-primary care doctors or APRNs to provide recommendations for medical cannabis.

In addition, the legislation would amend state law to clarify that a medical cannabis patient can establish a bona fide relationship with a health care provider without an initial in-person consultation.

In other words, the bona fide relationship necessary for a medical cannabis recommendation could be established via telehealth; however, medical cannabis telehealth certifications would be required to come from within the state.

“The Legislature finds that access for qualifying patients and primary caregivers to medical cannabis and particularly licensed medical cannabis dispensaries remains challenging due to limited access to medical providers, delays in obtaining allowed access to enter and purchase medical cannabis, and the availability of cannabis through a thriving illicit market,” according to the bill.

While the number of registered medical cannabis patients peaked at 35,444 cardholders in August 2021, that number decreased by 15% to 30,035 cardholders by November 2024, according to H.B. 302.

“This appears to indicate that residents are shifting away from licensed medical cannabis dispensaries and instead are obtaining their medical cannabis from elsewhere due to administrative barriers, delays in registering, and the ease and lower costs in obtaining cannabis elsewhere,” according to the bill.

Another provision included in the bill would make it a felony to operate a dispensary without a license and a misdemeanor to advertise unregulated cannabis.

H.B. 302 also would permit the DOH to issue additional medical cannabis cultivation licenses and define canopy sizes or plant counts for indoor and outdoor growers.

The Hawai‘i Cannabis Industry Association (HICIA), which represents the majority of the state’s licensed dispensaries, provided written testimony to support easing access for medical cannabis patients but oppose the addition of cultivation licenses, suggesting that the current marketplace is already “extremely limited and constrained.”  

“Licensees already have production centers that are underutilized and not growing at full capacity just to serve their own patient customer base,” HICIA officials wrote. “Adding additional products into this already tight legal system through cultivator licensees will simply flood the market with more product. This product will end up somewhere, and if not in licensed facilities, more likely in the illicit market.”

Other provisions included in the bill would allow licensed dispensaries to sell non-cannabis products in their waiting areas—such as federally legal hemp and certain paraphernalia—and clarify the process for dispensary-to-dispensary sales to establish greater efficiencies.

Senate lawmakers did not discuss the legislation on the chamber’s floor before Tuesday’s vote. Sen. Brenton Awa, R-Kaneohe, the minority party’s leader, cast the lone vote in opposition.

Should the House concur with the Senate’s amendments, Democratic Gov. Josh Green—who said he supported adult-use legalization in the Aloha State during his 2023 campaign trail—would likely sign the bill.

When Hawaii House members killed an adult-use legalization bill in April 2024, Green told Hawaii News Now that he had a possible solution to find a middle ground between the majority of Hawaiians who support legalization and the states’ law enforcement agencies that continue to offer concerns about public safety.

“I think probably there is a place to find a more happy medium, and that is to expand people’s capacity to get medical marijuana under any circumstance they deem necessary with their physician,” he said.

Green pointed to Hawaii’s laws supporting women’s rights to make their own decisions about their bodies with their health care providers and to terminal patients’ rights to make decisions with their health care providers regarding death with dignity over suffering in pain in the final six months of their lives.

“I think we can apply that same principle to the medical use of marijuana, which would significantly expand people’s legal use of marijuana but would still leave regulation in place regarding children, which has been one of the concerns,” the governor said a year ago.

Now in the final stages before heading off to Green’s desk, H.B. 302’s adoption in the Senate comes two months after House lawmakers killed an adult-use legalization bill for the second straight year. Rep. Chris Todd, D-Hilo, suggested it didn’t have enough support to pass and introduced a rare motion to table the legislation until next year.

Although Hawaii was one of the most progressive states in the nation when it became the first to legalize medical cannabis via the legislative process in 2000, it has since taken one of the most conservative approaches to adult-use reform.

The president of the Connecticut Police Chiefs Association is calling on state lawmakers to pass a bill that would allow police to pull over drivers who are consuming cannabis behind the wheel, CT Mirror reports. During testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday, Meriden Chief of Police Rob Rosado said officers in the city frequently see individuals consuming cannabis while driving “but that could be the same for anywhere” in the state. 

The legislation would allow police to pull over drivers they see consuming cannabis while driving or if they smell the odor of burnt cannabis emitting from a vehicle, and would allow the person to be charged under the state’s drugged driving laws. The bill would also create a feasibility study for implementing a THC limit for drivers – akin to blood-alcohol levels used to determine drunk driving. The study would be required to be public by Feb. 1, 2026.  

In a letter supporting the bill, House Republicans called it “important” and “crafted to increase safety on … roadways by giving law enforcement officers additional tools to prevent and enforce cannabis-related driving under the influence in the state.” 

“While we believe that it would be better policy to repeal the current law that requires police officers to ignore their sense of smell and sight when it comes to marijuana related motor vehicle stops, allowing officers to stop or search a vehicle based on the smell of cannabis when there is also visual observation of cannabis consumption is a step in the right direction.” — Connecticut House Republicans, Testimony in Support of House Bill 7258, 3/31/25   

During the hearing, state Rep. Steven Stafstrom (D) contended that the legislation is not necessary because “there are so many other reasons the car can be pulled over.” 

“I think this notion that a car can’t be stopped when a cop quote-unquote knows someone is smoking cannabis,” he said, “I don’t buy it.” 

In written testimony, John R. DelBarba, assistant legal counsel for the Office of Chief Public Defender, argued against imposing the blood THC levels.

“Law enforcement has tried in some of the States mentioned in this section to improve upon this situation for drivers by measuring THC in blood. But even when you are measuring THC itself in the blood, which is psychoactive, it doesn’t necessarily tell you how long ago the person used it,” DelBarba wrote. “And the reason for that is THC is a very fat-soluble substance, and the THC comes out of the blood and gets stored and builds up in a person’s body fat. For people who use cannabis nearly every day (such as medical users), the level in their blood can be rather high. It can even sometimes be as high or higher after not smoking for more than a day than the level of an occasional user right after they smoked.” 

The bill remains in the committee. 

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The latest draft of the lower chamber’s THC regulation bill would allow retailers to continue selling edibles and drinks, along with low-dose smokable hemp flowers. It would ban vapes and allow counties to vote to ban consumable hemp.

The bill calls for a much tighter regulatory system than what exists today, six years after the GOP-controlled Legislature inadvertently set off the state’s booming consumable hemp market. It would require products to be sold in child-resistant packaging that does not resemble popular snacks or otherwise appear marketed to kids. And it would establish an age limit that does not exist under the current law, restricting sales to those 21 and older.

Sales would also be barred within 1,000 feet of a school or certain other areas frequented by children.

Still, the restrictions fall well short of the full ban on THC products that would be codified under the version of the measure, Senate Bill 3, advanced by the upper chamber in March. It is also more permissive than an earlier draft floated last month by the House sponsor, Rep. Ken King, that would have allowed only THC drinks.

Patrick, a Republican who presides over the Senate, has threatened to force an overtime legislative session if lawmakers failed to pass an all-out THC ban.

King, a Canadian Republican who chairs the House State Affairs Committee, described his latest draft as a “regulatory bill” that is “substantially different” from earlier versions. The committee advanced the bill on a 15–0 vote. It now heads to the House Calendars Committee, which will decide whether to schedule it for a floor vote.

Since Patrick launched his crusade to ban THC products in December, hemp industry leaders have turned to the House as the bulwark that would, they hope, pass tighter regulations rather than quash the industry altogether. Hemp retailers have largely backed calls for the regulations included in King’s latest draft of SB 3, such as restrictions aimed at keeping hemp products out of the hands of minors.

The legislation comes in response to the more than 8,000 cannabis retailers that have popped up across Texas since 2019, when the GOP-controlled Legislature authorized the sale of consumable hemp. That law, passed one year after hemp was legalized nationwide, was intended to boost Texas agriculture by allowing the commercialization of hemp containing trace amounts of delta-9 THC, the psychoactive element in marijuana.

While hemp products are not allowed to contain more than a 0.3 percent concentration of delta-9 THC—anything higher is classified as marijuana—critics say the industry has exploited a loophole that set the 0.3 percent threshold for delta-9 THC but not other hemp derivatives.

These other hemp-derived products still look, taste and sometimes have intoxicating effects similar to their more potent sibling. (Hemp and marijuana plants are both cannabis plants; the difference lies in their THC levels.)

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2025/05/01/thc-hemp-regulations-senate-bill-3-texas-house/.

The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.

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