The Retail Merchants of Hawaiʻi are fired up about recreational cannabis, and not in the celebratory sense. Their big fear? That legal weed could scare off Japanese tourists who still equate cannabis with hard drugs. Tour wholesalers, airlines, and even the Honolulu Prosecutor’s Office are echoing concerns.
California legalized it, and its Japanese arrivals didn’t vanish. Neither did Colorado’s.
Let’s be real, Hawaiʻi already allows medical cannabis, and anyone walking through Waikīkī knows enforcement is inconsistent. What if, instead of hiding from it, we treat cannabis like alcohol or cigarettes: legal, taxed, and regulated?
Are we safeguarding culture or just high on our own supply?
