Hilo, HI: Hawaii County voters will decide this November on a local initiative that seeks to make marijuana law enforcement the county’s “lowest priority.”
The County Council voted 5-4 to let voters decide the issue after proponents of the measure failed to gather a sufficient number of signatures from registered voters to place the proposal on the November ballot.
The measure would direct law enforcement to make activities related to the investigation and arrest of adults who possess up to 24 ounces of cannabis and/or 24 plants their lowest priority.
Passage of the measure would also forbid the County Council from accepting government funding to promote federal marijuana eradication efforts on the Big Island.
Voters have enacted similar ‘deprioritization’ initiatives in Seattle, Washington; Oakland, California; Columbia, Missouri; and Denver, Colorado.
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