HB 2674 - "Adequate Supply" - Support

There are two difficulties concerning compliance with and enforcement of the Hawai'i Revised Statutes definition of "adequate supply" for medical marijuana patients. To make these issues easier for both patients and law enforcement officers, this bill allows patients to have a ten by ten square foot garden canopy and increases the amount of medicine a patient can possess to account for the difficulties patients have both acquiring and growing their medicine. The reasons for this bill are the following issues:

1. "Mature vs. Immature"

The Hawaii Revised Statute's present definition "adequate supply" of medical marijuana allows for 3 mature plants, 4 immature plants and 3 ounces per patient. A mature marijuana plant is defined as a plant "that has flowered and which has buds that are readily observed by unaided visual examination" (Hawaii Administrative Rules, Title 23, Department of Public Safety, Subtitle 3, Law Enforcement, Chapter 202, Medical Use of Marijuana, sec. 2).

The definition of mature in Webster's Dictionary is "Having reached full natural growth or development." The flowering time of marijuana plants varies from six to 14 weeks depending on the genetics. Indica strains for body relaxation and pain relief have a shorter flowering cycle; Sativas for cerebral relief take longer. According to the definition of "mature", and contrary to the definition put forth in Hawai'i's medical marijuana law, a "mature marijuana plant" is a plant "that has flowered fully and is ready to pick." This cannot accurately be judged with the naked eye. Medical marijuana growers use hand held microscopes or digital microscope to analyze trichomes because pharmaceutical-grade marijuana must be picked at the precise moment of maturity. During the greater part of the year (from September to May), plants flower right away because of the short days. With this in mind, under the current law's definition of "mature marijuana," patients can only grow three plants outside at any time because plants begin to flower right away and do so for up to three months.

Allowing patients to grow in a ten by ten foot canopy will allow patients to grow more plants to assure their adequate supply. Weather, pests, theft and general lack of knowledge make it difficult for 3 mature plants to produce enough usable medicine.

2. "One Ounce per Mature Marijuana Plant"

Because it is difficult for Hawai'i's medical marijuana patients to grow and maintain an adequate supply, this bill seek to increase the limits of medicine a patient is legally allowed to possess. When a patient does have a successful harvest, that patient should be able to possess an adequate supply for at least six months, in case the next harvest is not successful. Weather, pests, theft, and general lack of growing knowledge prevent successful harvests.

Three plants is not enough for medical marijuana patients to meet an "adequate supply." Three ounces of "usable product" is not an adequate supply for medical marijuana patients. Hawaii's medical marijuana law, SB 862 HD1, that was passed by the Hawai'i legislature in 1999 was based on the state of Oregon's medical marijuana law passed the year earlier allowing for 3 mature plants, four immature plants and three ounces of usable product per patient. Understanding the challenges facing patients, Oregon Senate Bill 1085, which took effect on January 1, 2006, raised the quantity of cannabis that authorized patients may possess from seven plants (with no more than three mature) and three ounces of cannabis to six mature cannabis plants, 18 immature seedlings, and 24 ounces of usable cannabis.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (N.I.D.A.) provides a standard dose of smokeable Marijuana to patients in the Compassionate Investigational New Drug (IND) research program since 1978. The Federal Government has established that a medical marijuana patient's adequate supply is 6.63 lb. per year. A patients's medical marijuana supply should reflect guuidelines set forth by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Home Preparedness kit, which recommends that a should keep a six months supply of their medication on hand. According to the federal government's Compassionate IND research program, that is just over three pounds per patient per year.