Posted at 9:30 a.m., Wednesday, May 16, 2001

Gov asking Abercrombie to push for medical pot legalization

By Lynda Arakawa
Advertiser Capitol Bureau

Gov. Ben Cayetano yesterday said he will ask U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie to submit federal legislation to legalize medical marijuana.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday affirmed that manufacturing and distributing marijuana is illegal throughout the United States. Hawai'i is one of eight states that allow marijuana to be used for medical purposes.

Cayetano said the justices' decision doesn't change anything because "the court really just affirmed what we always knew the (federal) law was."

He said he will talk to Abercrombie about pushing Congress to legalize medical marijuana and that he expects the congressman to be willing to do so. He described Abercrombie as a big advocate of medical marijuana and that Abercrombie was the one who "converted me to the cause of marijuana's medicinal uses."

Abercrombie could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Cayetano said he isn't sure how receptive the rest of Congress is to such legislation.

"I just think it's just a matter of time until Congress finally gets around to understanding that the state should be allowed to provide for this kind of relief to the people," he said. "Congress is way, way behind in their thinking."