City and county leaders rallied against recreational marijuana legislation introduced in the state Legislature on Wednesday.
Honolulu Prosecutor Steve Alm organized a presentation where he was joined by law enforcement from all counties, former Gov. Linda Lingle and community advocates.
“You want to go and do a piece of legislation that has no thought of what the ramifications are, if you want people to die, this is how to do it,” said Maui Police Chief John Pelletier.
He was one of the many speakers at the event.
Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi also told reporters that he would not support the legalization of recreational marijuana.
“All the data that I've read, all the things that I've seen firsthand and all the knowledge I've had in talking to medical professionals, that’s a non-starter as far as I'm concerned,” he said.
A total of 24 states in the U.S., along with Washington, D.C., and Guam, have legalized recreational marijuana.
The state Senate will be hearing an over 300-page bill that aims to add Hawaiʻi to that list.
Alm was concerned about the increase of illegal marijuana operations that he said flourishes once recreational marijuana is legalized.
“If this is legalized, what we've seen in other states is the black market increases because the use of marijuana increases,” he said.
“So we're going to end up prosecuting probably marijuana, illegal marijuana grows, but it's very difficult for the police to tell what's a legal farm from an illegal farm.”
ACLU Hawaiʻi supports recreational marijuana legalization as a concept because they say prohibition has not stopped people from using it and criminalization has resulted in people unnecessarily being charged with cannabis-related offenses.
“The people who really want to use it are probably going to use it, but if you get it from a store, at least, at a minimum, you know exactly what you're getting,” said ACLU Policy Assistant Josh Frost.
“And because the dispensaries would be sort of standalone shops teens wouldn't be allowed in, right? You couldn't get into the store much like going to a bar or nightclub, right? If you're under 21, you're not getting in.”
The Senate bill that would legalize recreational marijuana will be heard on Tuesday.
