Welcome to the website of the Honolulu, Hawaii chapter of Americans for Safe Access (ASA). Americans for Safe Access is the largest national member-based organization of patients, medical professionals, scientists and concerned citizens promoting safe and legal access to cannabis for therapeutic use and research.
ASA works to overcome political and legal barriers by creating policies that improve access to medical cannabis for patients and researchers through legislation, education, litigation, grassroots actions, advocacy and services for patients and the caregivers. ASA has over 40,000 active members with chapters and affiliates in more than 40 states.
Medical cannabis patients and current Executive Director Steph Sherer founded ASA in 2002 in response to federal raids on patients in California. Since then, ASA has been instrumental in shaping the political and legal landscape of medical cannabis. Our successful lobbying, media, and legal campaigns led to positive court precedents, new sentencing standards, more compassionate legislative and administrative polices and procedures, as well as new legislation.
ASA protects the rights of cannabis patients. We are working to change federal policy to meet the immediate needs of patients as well as create long-term strategies for safe access and programs that encourage research.
Since the late 1930's The Federal Government of the United States of America has been falsifying documents, hiding research findings, committing perjury at public hearings, and hiding the truth about Medical Marijuana from the general public in an attempt to distort the truth and public opinion about cannabis and its medical value.
For years this scheme seemed to work, and much of the public believed such ridiculous lies as purported in the infamous "Reefer Madness" movie that the United States Government made in 1938 which claims that marijuana use causes "violent, uncontrollable laughter; dangerous hallucinations; fixed ideas; emotional disturbances; total inability to direct thoughts; loss of power to resist physical emotions; leads to acts of shocking violence and often incurable insanity". They even claim that it is "more viscous" and "more deadly" than opium, morphine, and even heroin. All of this is claimed without a single piece of documented evidence or fact of any type.
The public did not fully fall for the governments scheme to convince everyone that cannabis was an evil, demonic, and deadly drug with no medical use whatsoever. Studies continue to be performed in other countries on the medical value of cannabis, and medical use of cannabis continues to be common in many other countries of the world, and is once again growing in popularity in the United States.
Currently in the United States marijuana is classified as a Schedule I substance by the Controlled Substances Act from the 1970's. By definition, a Schedule I substance has no medicinal value whatsoever, even though it has been used and proven throughout the world to successfully treat ailments and diseases for at least 5,000 years, and as recent research shows, possibly for as far back as10,000 years and so many of the professional health care associations and physicians in the United States and around the world accept that there are medical uses for cannabis, and for certain conditions it is a safe alternative with less side effects as unsuccessful and potentially dangerous medicines.
Cocaine, a much more addictive and dangerous drug, which has caused death in many first time users, is listed as a Schedule II substance, even though it has severe and possibly deadly side effects, and its only current medical use is as an anesthetic for nose and throat surgery.
Cannabis has been proven for thousands of years to treat and relieve symptoms of Asthma, Glaucoma, Nausea, Epilepsy, Multiple Sclerosis, Cystic Fibrosis, Muscle Spasms, Sea Sickness, Depression, Dementia, Senility, Alzheimer's, Insomnia, Back Pain, PMS, Arthritis, Herpes, Rheumatism, Sickle Cell, Expectorant, Stress, Migraines, Aids, Tumors, Arthritis, and many more diseases and conditions, yet the Federal Government still attempts to cover up and disregard the medical studies, and facts relating to medical cannabis.
Hypocrisy of the Federal Government
United States federal government officials have consistently denied that marijuana has any medical benefits. Yet, at the same time the government actually holds patents for the medical use of marijuana.
Just check out US Patent 6630507 titled "Cannabinoids as antioxidants and neuroprotectants" which is assigned to The United States of America, as represented by the Department of Health and Human Services.
On February 2, 2001 a patent application was filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office in which The United States Department of Health and Human Services, on behalf of the United States of America stated that: "Cannabinoids have been found to have antioxidant properties, unrelated to NMDA receptor antagonism. This new found property makes cannabinoids useful in the treatment and prophylaxis of wide variety of oxidation associated diseases, such as ischemic, age-related, inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. The cannabinoids are found to have particular application as neuroprotectants, for example in limiting neurological damage following ischemic insults, such as stroke and trauma, or in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and HIV dementia." The patent was issued on October 7, 2003.
Even though the federal government says that cannabis has no medicinal value whatsoever, they filed for this patent with their own evidence and research proving a few of its medical benefits. This alone invalidates cannabis being listed as a Schedule I substance and proves that it should be reclassified as a Schedule II substance. Our goal is to have marijuana reclassified by the Drug Enforcement Agency as a Schedule II substance, which could therefore be prescribed by a physician as any other medication routinely prescribed every day by physicians throughout the country.
This route would allow patients throughout the United States access to medical cannabis as a prescribed medication without having to live in fear of prosecution from unjust and corrupt government entities like the hypocrites in the Drug Enforcement Administration with their "Storm-troopers" raiding patients homes and confiscating their medication, stealing their money, homes, cars, and other property by claiming that they were acquired by "drug money".
There are also select patients who our own Federal Government supplies with pre-rolled medical marijuana cigarettes each month sealed inside discrete silver cans like the one shown here.
This federally authorized and taxpayer funded marijuana is grown at the University of Mississippi (pictured below) and is then rolled into cigarettes in North Carolina and packaged into silver tin cans before it is shipped out to the patients pharmacies for distribution.
The federal government emphatically denies that there is any medical use whatsoever with cannabis, yet they themselves are growing it for medical patients.
The federal government cant have it both ways. They cant say that there is no medical benefit for it, and at the same time supply it to patients and obtain U.S. Patents on it for its medical use.
The federal government can grow, cultivate, package and distribute medical marijuana and its perfectly legal, but if anyone else does it, they are jailed as a common "Drug Dealer" and in their trials, can not even mention the words medical marijuana in their defense. This is the ultimate hypocrisy.
We need to hold the federal government accountable to the people and not to their personal agendas.
Medical Marijuana in Hawaii
The Hawaii medical cannabis system currently is not a viable system, however, if minor modifications were made to it, it could become a viable system and offer hope to the thousands of patients in Hawaii who rely on medical cannabis for their medical therapy and pain relief.
Hawaii Revised Statutes §329 Part IX, commonly referred to as the "Hawaii Medical Marijuana Law" has overly strict limits on the amount of medicinal cannabis that a patient can grow and possess. Most medical cannabis patients are still required to risk their personal safety by frequenting seedy areas of town and obtaining their much needed medication from common drug dealers on the streets for as much as $550.00 per ounce instead of growing their own as the state law allows, because there is no legal access to seeds or seedling plants, often referred to as "clones".
When the patients are forced to purchase their medication on the streets as they are now, there is no guarantee as to which strain or type of cannabis they are buying, which means that it may work for their ailment, and it may not. Different ailments are treated by different strains of cannabis. Common street drug dealers have no idea as to these differences, and therefore cannot meet the medicinal needs of the patients. Current laws must be changed to allow for a viable medical cannabis system that can actually help the patients of Hawaii.
The Hawaii Legislature had compassion when they listened to the patients and the physicians in Hawaii who pleaded with them for a medical cannabis law and enacted the Medical Marijuana Law in June of 2000 . Since that time numerous bills have been introduced into legislation which would make modifications to the existing law making the medical cannabis system in Hawaii more viable, unfortunately all of which have either died in committees, or in the case of HB2675, made it through both the House and the Senate, but was ultimately vetoed by Governor Linda Lingle to the dismay of many.
Honolulu ASA is one of the organizations working towards positive changes in the Hawaii medical cannabis system and changes in both Hawaii and Federal laws to protect medical cannabis patients.
We Will Win The Fight
Almost everyday across the country ASA chapters and other organizations win small battles against the war on Medical Marijuana and its patients. Each small victory leads us to the final victory in this war. Help support us in this fight. This is a fight that we can, and will win.
Support Honolulu ASA
Help to support Honolulu ASA in this fight against the unethical and illegal war that our own federal government has waged on medical cannabis. All donations are used to further the mission of the Honolulu Chapter of Americans for Safe Access. If you would like to make a donation, contact us.
Welcome to the website of the Honolulu, Hawaii chapter of Americans for Safe Access (ASA). Americans for Safe Access is the largest national member-based organization of patients, medical professionals, scientists and concerned citizens promoting safe and legal access to cannabis for therapeutic use and research. 
There are also select patients who our own Federal Government supplies with pre-rolled medical marijuana cigarettes each month sealed inside discrete silver cans like the one shown here.
When the patients are forced to purchase their medication on the streets as they are now, there is no guarantee as to which strain or type of cannabis they are buying, which means that it may work for their ailment, and it may not. Different ailments are treated by different strains of cannabis. Common street drug dealers have no idea as to these differences, and therefore cannot meet the medicinal needs of the patients. Current laws must be changed to allow for a viable medical cannabis system that can actually help the patients of Hawaii.