Despite Hawaii’s centuries-old appreciation for medicinal marijuana, dispensaries coming on line later this year are unlikely to make access and affordability better for patients.
By Zuri Aki, Mahealani Traub
/ February 19, 2016
Reading time: 7 minutes.
Pakalolo is the Hawaiian word for cannabis and it literally means “numbing tobacco.” The chronicled use of cannabis in the Hawaiian Islands, appearing in the Hawaiian Language Newspaper Ka Nonanona, goes as far back as the year 1842 – though cannabis use probably goes back much further. Advertisements for medical cannabis continued in Hawaiian newspapers throughout the 19th century.
The criminalization of cannabis in Hawaii came shortly after the U.S. government unilaterally laid its claim to the Hawaiian Islands and made Hawaii an “organized incorporated territory” (a fancy term for “colony” without the stigma associated with “colonization”), despite substantial, and arguably, overwhelming opposition by the Hawaiian people.
The Hawaiian Islands and its people, controversially claimed by the United States, were subjected to U.S. law. In the late 1930s, Henry J. Anslinger, commissioner of the newly minted Federal Bureau of Narcotics (within the U.S. Treasury Department), led a war against cannabis, and racism was his impetus, what with statements like “[r]eefer makes darkies think they’re as good as white men.”
Marijuana grows in a greenhouse in Washington state. Dispensaries in Hawaii will have their own indoor grow operations under the state’s medical marijuana law.
Anslinger’s greatest hits also include, “[T]here are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the U.S., and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos and entertainers. Their Satanic music, jazz and swing result from marijuana use. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers and any others.” What a sweet guy. /sarcasm
https://www.civilbeat.org/2016/02/pakalolos-long-history-regulated-future-in-hawaii/