Hawaii Senate Rejects Proposal to Raise Personal Cannabis Possession Limits

The Hawaii Senate on Friday rejected a proposal to increase the amount of cannabis a person can possess, KHON2 reports. The legislation would have increased the amount to 15 grams, which is five times the current legal limit. 

During testimony on the proposal, David Pullman, a public defender, called the proposed 15-gram limit a “ridiculously small amount.”  

“The common amount that people buy is called an eighth. 3.5 grams. So the minute someone buys the most common amount of cannabis, they’re already over the decriminalization limit. They’re already committing a crime.” — Pullman via KHON2 

Pullman added that the increase would have kept some people out of jail. 

“Those prison cells are limited,” he testified. “That’s a cell where someone who is committing violent crime could be and instead we’re holding someone who got caught with THC in their urine.” 

The rejection by the Senate to increase the personal possession limit comes the same month as two House committees approved an adult-use cannabis legalization measure. That measure remains in the Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs Committee and House Agriculture and Food Systems Committee after it was amended by lawmakers on the panels prior to its approval. That measure would allow adults 21-and-older to possess up to an ounce of cannabis flower in public and up to 10 ounces at home.