Bill Text: HI SB2749 | 2024 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relating To Health.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-24 - Referred to PSM/HHS, JDC. [SB2749 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2024-SB2749-Introduced.html

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THE SENATE	S.B. NO.	2749
THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2024
STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

 

relating to health.

 

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 

     SECTION 1.  The legislature finds that xylazine is a tranquilizer that has increasingly been found in the United States illegal drug supply and linked to overdose deaths and therefore presents an urgent threat to public health and safety.  The proliferation of xylazine as an additive to illicit drugs such as fentanyl and other narcotics threatens to exacerbate the opioid public health emergency.

     The legislature further finds that there is currently no drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration to reverse the effects of xylazine in humans, which include depressed breathing and heart rate, unconsciousness, and necrosis, sometimes leading to amputation or other permanent physical health consequences.  Prior to 2023, only two states – Florida and Massachusetts – directly or indirectly scheduled xylazine.  In 2023, at least nine states, including Delaware, Illinois, Louisiana, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, and West Virginia, considered legislation to schedule xylazine as a controlled substance.  Of those states, Delaware, Rhode Island, and West Virginia enacted laws scheduling xylazine, while the governors of Ohio and Pennsylvania took executive action to schedule xylazine in their respective states.  Prompt action to control and test for illicit xylazine in the State is critical in preventing further health consequences to the public.

     The purpose of this Act is to:

     (1)  Decriminalize certain acts, including but not limited to use, possession, or delivery, involving xylazine test strips by excluding xylazine test strips from the definition of "drug paraphernalia" in the Uniform Controlled Substances Act; and

     (2)  Require the administrator of the narcotics enforcement division of the department of law enforcement to make an emergency scheduling by placing xylazine into schedule III on a temporary basis.

     SECTION 2.  Section 329-1, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended as follows:

     1.  By adding a new definition to be appropriately inserted and to read:

     ""Xylazine test strip" means a small strip of paper that can detect the presence of xylazine in:

     (1)  Different kinds of drugs, including cocaine, methamphetamine, and heroin; and

     (2)  Different drug forms, such as pills, powder, and injectable drugs."

     2.  By amending the definition of "drug paraphernalia" to read:

     ""Drug paraphernalia" means all equipment, products, and materials of any kind that are used, primarily intended for use, or primarily designed for use, in planting, propagating, cultivating, growing, harvesting, manufacturing, compounding, converting, producing, processing, preparing, testing, analyzing, packaging, repackaging, storing, containing, concealing, injecting, ingesting, inhaling, or otherwise introducing into the human body a controlled substance in violation of this chapter.

     (1)  Drug paraphernalia includes but is not limited to:

          [(1)] (A)  Kits used, primarily intended for use, or primarily designed for use in planting, propagating, cultivating, growing, or harvesting of any species of plant that is a controlled substance or from which a prohibited controlled substance can be derived;

          [(2)] (B)  Kits used, primarily intended for use, or primarily designed for use in manufacturing, compounding, converting, producing, processing, or preparing prohibited controlled substances;

          [(3)] (C)  Isomerization devices used, primarily intended for use, or primarily designed for use in increasing the potency of any species of plant that is a prohibited controlled substance;

          [(4)] (D)  Testing equipment used, primarily intended for use, or primarily designed for use in identifying, or in analyzing the strength, effectiveness, or purity of prohibited controlled substances;

          [(5)] (E)  Scales and balances used, primarily intended for use, or primarily designed for use in weighing or measuring prohibited controlled substances;

          [(6)] (F)  Diluents and adulterants; such as quinine hydrochloride, mannitol, mannite, dextrose, and lactose, used, primarily intended for use, or primarily designed for use in cutting prohibited controlled substances;

          [(7)] (G)  Separation gins and sifters used, primarily intended for use, or primarily designed for use in removing twigs and seeds from, or in otherwise cleaning or refining, prohibited marijuana;

          [(8)] (H)  Blenders, bowls, containers, spoons, and mixing devices used, primarily intended for use, or primarily designed for use in compounding prohibited controlled substances;

          [(9)] (I)  Capsules, balloons, envelopes, and other containers used, primarily intended for use, or primarily designed for use in packaging small quantities of prohibited controlled substances;

         [(10)] (J)  Containers and other objects used, primarily intended for use, or primarily designed for use in storing or concealing prohibited controlled substances;

         [(11)] (K)  Hypodermic syringes, needles, and other objects used, primarily intended for use, or primarily designed for use in parenterally injecting prohibited controlled substances into the human body;

         [(12)] (L)  Objects used, primarily intended for use, or primarily designed for use in ingesting, inhaling, or otherwise introducing prohibited marijuana, cocaine, hashish, hashish oil, or methamphetamine into the human body, such as:

             [(A)]  (i)  Metal, wooden, acrylic, glass, stone, plastic, or ceramic pipes with or without screens, permanent screens, hashish heads, or punctured metal bowls;

             [(B)]  (ii)  Water pipes;

             [(C)]  (iii)  Carburetion tubes and devices;

             [(D)]  (iv)  Smoking and carburetion masks;

             [(E)]  (v)  Roach clips:  meaning objects used to hold burning materials, such as marijuana cigarettes, that have become too small or too short to be held in the hand;

             [(F)]  (vi)  Miniature cocaine spoons, and cocaine vials;

             [(G)]  (vii)  Chamber pipes;

             [(H)]  (viii)  Carburetor pipes;

             [(I)]  (ix)  Electric pipes;

             [(J)]  (x)  Air-driven pipes;

             [(K)]  (xi)  Chillums;

             [(L)]  (xii)  Bongs; and

             [(M)]  (xiii)  Ice pipes or chillers.

     (2)  In determining whether an object is drug paraphernalia, a court or other authority should consider, in addition to all other logically relevant factors, the following:

          [(1)] (A)  Statements by an owner or anyone in control of the object concerning its use;

          [(2)] (B)  Prior convictions, if any, of an owner, or of anyone in control of the object, under any state or federal law relating to any controlled substance;

          [(3)] (C)  The proximity of the object, in time and space, to a direct violation of this chapter;

          [(4)] (D)  The proximity of the object to controlled substances;

          [(5)] (E)  The existence of any residue of controlled substances on the object;

          [(6)] (F)  Direct or circumstantial evidence of the intent of an owner, or anyone in control of the object, to deliver it to a person or persons whom the owner or person in control knows, or should reasonably know, intend to use the object to facilitate a violation of this chapter; provided that the innocence of an owner, or of anyone in control of the object, as to a direct violation of this chapter shall not prevent a finding that the object is intended for use, or designed for use, as drug paraphernalia;

          [(7)] (G)  Instructions, oral or written, provided with the object concerning its use;

          [(8)] (H)  Descriptive materials accompanying the object that explain or depict its use;

          [(9)] (I)  National and local advertising concerning its use;

         [(10)] (J)  The manner in which the object is displayed for sale;

         [(11)] (K)  Whether the owner, or anyone in control of the object, is a legitimate supplier of like or related items to the community, such as a licensed distributor or dealer of tobacco products;

         [(12)] (L)  Direct or circumstantial evidence of the ratio of sales of the object or objects to the total sales of the business enterprise;

         [(13)] (M)  The existence and scope of legitimate uses for the object in the community; and

         [(14)] (N)  Expert testimony concerning its use.

     (3)  "Drug paraphernalia" does not include fentanyl test strips[.] and xylazine test strips."

     SECTION 3.  Pursuant to section 329-11(e), Hawaii Revised Statutes, the administrator of the narcotics enforcement division of the department of law enforcement shall make an emergency scheduling by placing xylazine into schedule III on a temporary basis, post public notice thereof, and assess the degree of danger or probable danger of the substance.

     SECTION 4.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

 

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________

 

 

 

 

Report Title:

Emergency Scheduling; Xylazine; Controlled Substance; Schedule III; Test Strip

 

Description:

Excludes xylazine testing strips from the definition of "drug paraphernalia".  Requires the administrator of the narcotics enforcement administration to make an emergency scheduling by placing xylazine into schedule III on an emergency basis.

 

 

 

The summary description of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.