| 39 | | - | WHEREAS, the current Hawaii medical cannabis dispensary program system fails to provide a social equity framework, through no fault of the current operators who are operating under current rules designed in a previous era of cannabis law and policy; and WHEREAS, the war on drugs has been acknowledged throughout the United States (see Michelle Alexander's seminal historical analysis in her awardwinning treatise, "The New Jim Crow" republished 2020) and in Hawaii (see the 2010 Office of Hawaiian Affairs report on "The Disparate Treatment of Native Hawaiians in the Criminal Justice System") to have been and to still be a racist campaign devastating and destroying immigrant, indigenous, and low-income individuals, families, and communities; and WHEREAS, the mass incarceration that began with the war on drugs, and includes cannabis prohibition, continues to destabilize immigrant, indigenous, and lowincome individuals, families, and communities; and WHEREAS, cannabis prohibition has deprived impacted individuals' access to higher education, housing, and employment, and of liberty, property, and the right to vote; and WHEREAS, to counter the effects on individuals, families, and communities, almost all state adult use and medical cannabis legalization programs now contain or are built around social equity considerations, including without limit, exclusive licensing, technical assistance, and capital investment in businesses owned by social equity qualified individuals; and WHEREAS, while the term "social equity" in the cannabis industry most often refers to the efforts to create an equitable industry, social equity programs should encompass all pillars of equity to ensure the efforts to redress the harms of cannabis prohibition are as broad as the harms; now, therefore, BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Thirtyfirst Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2022, that the Drug Policy Forum of Hawaii is requested to prepare, by November l, 2022, a comprehensive report on social equity programs in the context of regulated adult use cannabis programs in various U.S. state and local governments, including critiques of these programs such as that of the Minority Cannabis Business Association (MCBA) titled, "National Cannabis Equity Report 2022"; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the report is requested to be prepared in the style of a Legislative Reference Bureau report, objectively providing options to the Legislature in a criteria matrix format; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the report is requested to include consideration of exclusive licensing, technical assistance, and capital investment in businesses owned by social equity qualified individuals, and other elements of existing social equity programs; producer/consumer cooperative models; and automatic criminal record expungement for cannabis related crimes in crafting an adult use regulated cannabis legalization program within the larger context of adhering the benefits of this new industry to Native Hawaiians and other victims of the war on drugs, and potentially by requiring such businesses to operate in the form of Sustainable Business Corporations with specified public benefit goals and purposes and annual public reporting requirements benchmarked to meeting minimal levels of public benefit including social equity as a condition of licensing; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Health's Office of Medical Cannabis Control and Regulation (OMCCR) is requested to prepare, by November l, 2022, a comprehensive report on how to include the existing legal growers and hemp licensees, under chapter 329, Hawaii Revised Statutes, including Kanaka Maoli and those on Hawaiian Home Lands, as eligible to test and sell cannabis and hemp directly to other patients, or to licensed dispensaries; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Governor, Attorney General, Director of Health, Deputy Director of Health Resources Administration, Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, and President of the Drug Policy Forum of Hawaii. Report Title: Hawaiian Language; Letterhead; Stationery |
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| 41 | + | WHEREAS, the current Hawaii medical cannabis dispensary program system fails to provide a social equity framework, through no fault of the current operators who are operating under current rules designed in a previous era of cannabis law and policy; and WHEREAS, the war on drugs has been acknowledged throughout the United States (see Michelle Alexander's seminal historical analysis in her award-winning treatise, "The New Jim Crow" republished 2020) and in Hawaii (see the 2010 Office of Hawaiian Affairs report on "The Disparate Treatment of Native Hawaiians in the Criminal Justice System") to have been and to still be a racist campaign devastating and destroying immigrant, indigenous, and low-income individuals, families, and communities; and WHEREAS, the mass incarceration that began with the war on drugs, and includes cannabis prohibition, continues to destabilize immigrant, indigenous, and low-income individuals, families, and communities; and WHEREAS, cannabis prohibition has deprived impacted individuals' access to higher education, housing, and employment, and of liberty, property, and the right to vote; and WHEREAS, to counter the effects on individuals, families, and communities, almost all state adult use and medical cannabis legalization programs now contain or are built around social equity considerations, including without limit, exclusive licensing, technical assistance, and capital investment in businesses owned by social equity qualified individuals; and WHEREAS, while the term "social equity" in the cannabis industry most often refers to the efforts to create an equitable industry, social equity programs should encompass all pillars of equity to ensure the efforts to redress the harms of cannabis prohibition are as broad as the harms; now, therefore, BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Thirty-first Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2022, that the Legislative Reference Bureau is requested to prepare, by November 1, 2022, a comprehensive report on social equity programs in the context of regulated adult use cannabis programs in various U.S. state and local governments, including critiques of these programs such as that of the Minority Cannabis Business Association (MCBA) titled, "National Cannabis Equity Report 2022"; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the report is requested to include consideration of exclusive licensing, technical assistance, and capital investment in businesses owned by social equity qualified individuals, and other elements of existing social equity programs; producer/consumer cooperative models; and automatic criminal record expungement for cannabis related crimes in crafting an adult use regulated cannabis legalization program within the larger context of adhering the benefits of this new industry to Native Hawaiians and other victims of the war on drugs, and potentially by requiring such businesses to operate in the form of Sustainable Business Corporations with specified public benefit goals and purposes and annual public reporting requirements benchmarked to meeting minimal levels of public benefit including social equity as a condition of licensing; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Health's Office of Medical Cannabis Control and Regulation (OMCCR) is requested to prepare, by November 1, 2022, a comprehensive report on how to include the existing legal growers and hemp licensees, under chapter 329, Hawaii Revised Statutes, including Kanaka Maoli and those on Hawaiian Home Lands, as eligible to test and sell cannabis and hemp directly to other patients, or to licensed dispensaries; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Governor, Attorney General, Director of Health, Deputy Director of Health Resources Administration, Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, and representatives of the medical cannabis dispensaries. Report Title: Social Equity; Cannabis Industry; Regulation |
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