FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Tuesday, July 23, 2024
Honolulu, HI — On Tuesday, the Hawaiʻi Alliance for Cannabis Reform (HARC) released its Cannabis Policy Voter Guide for the 2024 State Legislative Primary Elections to educate the citizens of Hawai’i where candidates stand on a variety of cannabis policy issues.
HARC’s voter guide explains where the candidates for the Hawai’i House of Representatives and Senate stand on cannabis legalization and related issues of justice and equity. The voter guide includes responses to a survey HACR sent to all candidates for state offices, information on how incumbents voted on key cannabis bills, and other publicly available information on candidates’ stances.
“A majority of Americans already live in a state where adult-use cannabis is legal, including tourists now arriving in Hawai’i airports from the U.S. West. The federal government is poised to reschedule cannabis or end federal prohibition. Governor Josh Green supports adult-use legalization. The next legislature should pass a statute next year that creates quality jobs and economic growth opportunities in each county,” said Nikos Leverenz, Board President of Drug Policy Forum of Hawaiʻi.
Hawai’i voters can cast their ballots for Hawaii’s Primary Election Day from July 23 through August 10. Many races have no general election challengers, meaning for some races, this is voters’ one and only chance to decide who represents them in the statehouse. All state representative seats are on the ballot, as are half of the state Senate seats.
In 2024, legalization got the furthest it has ever gotten in the Hawai’i Legislature, but it died just short of the finish line. Meanwhile, a recent Hawai’i Perspectives poll found that 58% of Hawai’i residents are in favor of “legalizing marijuana to allow possession, manufacture, and sale of marijuana by and to adults, under state licensing, regulation, and taxation.”
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The Hawaiʻi Alliance for Cannabis Reform is a coalition of citizens, organizations, and community leaders working to end marijuana prohibition in Hawai’i and replace it with a system in which marijuana is not only regulated and taxed similarly to alcohol but also provides retroactive relief for those harmed by its prohibition. Current coalition members include the Marijuana Policy Project, ACLU of Hawai’i, Drug Policy Forum of Hawai’i, Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement, Last Prisoner Project, Hawai’i Appleseed Budget & Policy Center, Doctors for Drug Policy Reform, Hawai’i Innocence Project, Sustainable Chamber of Commerce, and Cannabis Education Hawai’i