Today is officially “BE SAFE, BE SEEN Halloween Pedestrian Safety Day,” as proclaimed by Honolulu Hale in tandem with Junior Police Officers (JPOs) at Ma‘ema‘e Elementary School. For safety’s sake, neighborhood trick-or-treaters should make sure costumes are visible to motorists and heed traffic regulations.

And motorists, of course, must drive extra carefully this evening as many residential streets will be buzzing with pint-sized superheroes, action characters and princesses (this year’s top costume choices, according to the National Retail Federation).

‘Cannabis’ the label of choice for industry insiders

The Hawaii Dispensary Alliance and others in the new industry want to dispense with the phrase “medical marijuana” as a descriptor for its focal product, instead calling it “medical cannabis.”

The nonprofit group has pointed to the origin of marijuana as a pejorative slang, making it inappropriate for use in this context. There’s also the drug-culture stigma it retains.

All of that might be true, but it’s usually an uphill battle getting people to stop using a popular word. And that doesn’t even deal with pakalolo (“crazy grass”) in Hawaii. Pretty sure that term’s here to stay.