A bill for the commercial legalization of marijuana advanced further than before at the state Legislature this session. Fortunately, House members looked at the growing data and research and rejected the bill (Senate Bill 3335). That puts Hawaii squarely with legislatures around the country who considered commercial legalization in 2023 and rejected it (17 out of 20).

Unfortunately, there is another bill still alive, SB 2487, Senate Draft 1, House Draft 1, that is really de facto marijuana legalization. It would increase the amount of marijuana considered to be decriminalized from 3 grams (six cigarettes or joints) to an ounce (60 joints) with the punishment for a violation being reduced from a $130 fine down to a $25 fine. It is a black market/drug dealer enrichment act.

Numerous reputable studies are documenting the dangers associated with marijuana use.

Legalizing marijuana leads to 20% more marijuana use, according to the August 2022 edition of the journal, Addiction. The proportion of drivers involved in fatal car crashes who test positive for marijuana will double, says the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety in January 2020. Many of these drivers will combine alcohol with marijuana to deadly effect. A drunken driver is dangerous. A drunken and stoned driver is even more dangerous. A pharmacologist in Colorado, where legalized commercial marijuana began in 2013, says, “When I’m on the road, I assume everybody’s stoned.”

The now much-more- powerful marijuana — 20% to 40% THC with concentrates of over 90%, versus 3% THC back in the day — has a profound effect on the teenage brain. Use starting in adolescence can permanently erase up to 8 IQ points, even if usage stops, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) in July 2021. That is profoundly troubling as a survey found that 44.38% of past year marijuana users aged 12 to 17 had cannabis use disorder (2022 National Survey on Drug Use and Health/SAMHSA).

De facto commercial legalization would also affect Hawaii’s overall health. A recent study cited in February’s Journal of the American Heart Association found that any use of marijuana was linked to a higher risk of heart attack and stroke, but that daily users had a 25% increased likelihood of a heart attack and a 42% increased likelihood of a stroke.

During this legislative session, commercial legalization proponents made much of the “safeguards” and “guardrails” in the 300-plus-page bill the Attorney General’s Office wrote for the Legislature; these included store testing to detect fentanyl and education campaigns to discourage young people from using marijuana.

Apparently all of these “safeguards” and “guardrails” don’t really matter, as this decriminalization/de facto legalization bill contains exactly none of them. As the Attorney General’s Office testified in opposition: “decriminalized marijuana is unregulated, untested, and untaxed. This lack of regulation and testing creates a significant public health concern, particularly as marijuana use increases. … The bill is the worst of both worlds.”

Finally, this bill would send the wrong message to our kids. Essentially legalizing commercial marijuana would be telling our kids that marijuana is safe to use or it wouldn’t be made legal.

When, according to SAMHSA, only 14.9% of Hawaii’s population age 12 and older currently uses marijuana, let’s protect our keiki, our people and our environment from harm. Tell our legislators to reject SB 2487, SD1, HD1.

Steve Alm is prosecuting attorney for the City and County of Honolulu.