Hawaii Gov. Josh Green has signed a bill to expand the state’s medical cannabis program into law after first expressing privacy concerns about the legislation. The Democratic governor signed the bill on June 29, despite including it in a list of measures he intended to veto earlier that month.
The legislation, HB302, expands patient access by allowing physicians to recommend medical cannabis for any condition that might be helped by the therapy. Doctors are no longer limited to issuing medical cannabis recommendations to patients with one or more specified qualifying conditions.
The new law also permits patients to consult with a physician and receive a medical cannabis recommendation via a telehealth visit. Previously, regulations required patients to see their physician at an in-person visit to receive a medical cannabis recommendation.
Before sending the bill to Green, a conference committee working to reconcile differences in the House and Senate versions of the bill added a new provision that raised privacy concerns, Marijuana Moment reported. The revised bill authorizes the Hawaii Department of Health to “inspect a qualifying patient’s medical records held by the physician, advanced practice registered nurse, or hospice provider who issued a written certification for the qualifying patient.”
Medical Records Provisions Spur Objections
The medical records provisions and another that would have created a new criminal offense for operating an unlicensed cannabis dispensary caused many cannabis advocates who had previously backed the measure to withdraw their support. In June, the governor placed HB302 on a list of bills he was considering for veto, citing privacy concerns about the legislation. Although not a commitment to veto the bill, including it on the list indicated the governor had serious reservations about the measure.
“Although this bill’s authorization of medical cannabis certifications via telehealth expands access to medical cannabis,” Green’s office wrote at the time, “provisions authorizing the inspection of patients’ medical records without warrant constitute a grave violation of privacy.”
Green noted that some patients might have privacy concerns about the medical records provision because cannabis is still illegal under federal law. He added that the provision could discourage some qualified patients from enrolling in the medical cannabis program.
“Given that the federal government classifies cannabis as a Schedule I substance,” his office said at the time, “patients’ reasonable fears of repercussions based upon information gained from inspection of their personal medical records may deter patients from participating in the medical cannabis program.”
As the conference committee discussed possible changes to the legislation, some lawmakers also expressed concerns that the medical records provision would deter prospective medical cannabis patients.
“The medical cannabis community has expressed its opposition to this breach of confidentiality,” Democratic state Rep. Kim Coco Iwamoto said last month, “especially since it is authorized without any suspicion of wrongdoing and without a warrant. This will further deter already low patient and provider participation.”
Advocate Calls for New Legislation
Green did not explain his decision to sign HB302 after first including it on the list of bills he intended to veto. Nikos Leverenz, of the Drug Policy Forum of Hawai’i and the Hawai’i Health and Harm Reduction Center, believes the state has “moved backward” in protecting individual autonomy around cannabis in the past year, and “HB 302 is an exemplar of that regression.”
“Providing government attorneys with the authority to inspect doctor-patient records and funding more law enforcement positions will serve to further deteriorate an already anemic medical cannabis system in Hawaii,” he wrote in an email to Marijuana Moment.
Leverenz also encouraged Green to “take the lead and advance bills in the next legislative session that actually serve to expand access to medical cannabis.”
“Measures toward this end include statutory employment protections for registered medical cannabis patients, authorizing access to medical cannabis products for patients in hospice and long-term care settings (Ryan’s Law), and allowing certifying providers broad professional discretion to recommend its use,” he added.
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