Hawaii: Market and regulatory data analysis of the cannabis sector

6th March 2024: US - Hawaii: Senate bill (SB) 3138 has been passed by the Senate and now heads to the House. SB 3138 would clarify the definition of a manufactured hemp product: “a product created by processing, that is either: intended to be consumed orally to supplement the human or animal diet in tablet, capsule, powder, softgel, gelcap, or liquid form (hemp oil); or in a form for topical application to the skin or hair”. The bill would specify that a manufactured hemp product does not include any living hemp plants, viable seeds, leaf materials, or floral materials.
6th March 2024: US - Hawaii: Senate bill (SB) 3335, which would legalise and regulate recreational cannabis in the state, has been passed by the Senate and now heads to the House for consideration. SB 3335 would allow individuals aged 21 and over to purchase, transport and possess up to 1 oz of cannabis flower and up to 5 g of adult-use cannabis products from 1st January 2026. It would also create a regulatory process for a commercial adult-use marketplace that would include cultivators, processors, testing laboratories and retailers – adult-use and medical stores, and craft dispensaries – and establish taxes for recreational cannabis and medical use cannabis sales.
21st November 2023: US - Hawaii: Hawaii attorney general Anne Lopez has issued a comprehensive plan to legalise recreational cannabis in the state, press reports. The plan would impose a 10% sales tax on recreational cannabis and include social equity provisions to allow opportunities to operators in the illicit market to enter the new legal market. Lopez proposes that legal sales should begin within 18 months, a timeline that many legislators reportedly consider reasonable.
13th July 2023: US - Hawaii: House Bill 1359 has been enacted into law as Act 263, without the governor’s signature, bringing significant changes to the state’s hemp regulations. The bill eliminates redundant regulations on hemp production, updates advertising restrictions for hemp products, and permits licensed hemp producers to sell hemp biomass, including crude extract. The Department of Health is now empowered to establish cannabinoid concentration limits, including THC, for manufactured hemp products and crude extract through rulemaking. Additionally, the new law establishes the Hawaii Hemp Task Force.
26th June 2023: US - Hawaii: House Bill 1082 has been signed and enacted into law by governor Josh Green. It allows a patient’s written certification to be valid for three years instead of the current one-year limit, amends the rulemaking authority for medical dispensary-to-dispensary sales, and allows a selling dispensary to transport amounts of more than 800 oz of cannabis or manufactured cannabis products with prior approval of the Department of Health. It also amends the dispensary licensing fee structure. Additionally, the bill adds requirements for the dispensary programme on signage, packaging, security requirements, restrictions on waiting rooms, and clarifies permitted types of manufactured cannabis products and penalties for violations of the dispensary law.
5th May 2023: US – Hawaii: House Bill 1359 has been passed by the Senate and now heads to the governor’s desk. The bill would amend the state’s hemp laws in various ways, including repealing redundant regulations on hemp production, revising advertising restrictions on hemp products, and specifically allowing licensed hemp producers to sell hemp biomass, now defined to include crude extract. Additionally, the bill allows the Department of Health, via rulemaking, to establish cannabinoid (including THC) concentration limits for manufactured hemp products and crude extract.
4th May 2023: US - Hawaii: House Bill 1082, on medical cannabis regulation, has been passed by the State Legislature and now heads to the governor’s desk. It would allow a patient’s written certification to be valid for three years instead of the current one-year limit, amend the rulemaking authority for dispensary-to-dispensary sales, and allow a selling dispensary to transport an amount other than 800 oz of cannabis or manufactured cannabis products with prior approval of the Department of Health. It also amends the dispensary programme licensing fee structure. Additionally, the bill adds requirements for the dispensary programme on signage, packaging, security requirements, restrictions on waiting rooms, and clarifies permitted types of manufactured cannabis products and penalties for violations of the dispensary law.
14th April 2023: US - Hawaii: During her confirmation hearing before the state senate, attorney general-nominee Anne Lopez said that her office would not oppose recreational cannabis legalisation and would in fact establish an administration task force to draft legislation to be presented during next year's legislative session, press reports. Lopez, as well as previous administrations of Hawaii's Attorney General's Office, had previously opposed recreational cannabis legalisation. Lopez is expected to be confirmed by the Senate.
9th March 2023: US - Hawaii: Senate Bill (SB) 516 has passed the Senate and now moves to the House. HB 516 would require that the identity statement used for the labelling or advertising of hemp products specifically identifies the percentage of Hawaii-grown hemp and hemp of other origins contained in any hemp products.
9th March 2023: US - Hawaii: Senate Bill (SB) 655 has passed the Senate and now moves to the House. HB 655 would allow the Department of Agriculture to align state hemp production administrative rules with federal law, with regard to exemptions for fibre, fuel, and seed grain hemp crops.
8th March 2023: US - Hawaii: House Bill 70, which has passed the House and now moves to the Senate, would prohibit the sale or holding, offering, and distribution of hemp products that contain cannabinoids created through isomerisation (including delta-6 cis or trans THC and their optical isomers) or into which a synthetic cannabinoid has been added. However, it exempts medical cannabis dispensaries from the prohibition.

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