Key Hawaii lawmakers have filed legislation that would put the issue of marijuana legalization on the ballot for voters to decide.
The move comes after repeated efforts to legalize cannabis legislatively in recent sessions have demonstrated momentum but failed before reaching the finish line to be enacted into law.
If the legislature agrees to the new plan, voters would see this on their November ballots:
“Shall the Constitution of the State of Hawaii be amended to:
(1) Authorize individuals aged twenty-one and older to use and possess personal-use amounts of cannabis; and
(2) Require the legislature to enact laws governing the use, manufacture, distribution, sale, possession, regulation, and taxation of cannabis within the State?”
If a majority of voters approved the ballot measure, cannabis legalization would take effect on July 1, 2027.
House Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs Committee Chairman David Tarnas (D) and Senate Health and Human Services Committee Chair Joy San Buenaventura (D) are the lead sponsors of the new measures. Tarnas’s House proposal has 13 additional cosponsors.
“This is kicking this particular policy decision—very selectively—to the public for a decision,” Tarnas, who has previously sponsored legalization and other marijuana reform bills, said in an interview earlier this month.
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