The Hawaii Medical Marijuana Program

There are two medical marijuana programs in HI. One is called the Medical Marijuana Registry Program, and the other is called the Medical Marijuana Dispensary Program. The HI Department of Health administers them both. Both programs aim to ensure medical cannabis is accessible for patients in HI.

The Hawaii Department of Health’s Harm Reduction Services Branch administers the Medical Marijuana Registry Program. HI laws require all qualified patients to be registered with the registry program before then being to use medical cannabis.

The Hawaii Department of Health’s Office of Health Care Assurance administers the Medical Marijuana Dispensary Program. This program ensures the quality of marijuana products and regulates the statewide dispensary system to ensure it is safe and legal.

What conditions qualify for the Medical Marijuana Program in Hawaii?

Patients in HI who wants to obtain medical marijuana must be diagnosed with one or more of the following medical condition:

• Cancer
• Glaucoma
• HIV/AIDS
• PTSD
• Cachexia or wasting syndrome
• Severe pain
• Severe Nausea
• Seizures, including Epilepsy
• Severe and Persistent Muscle Spasms, including Multiple Sclerosis
• Crohn’s Disease

Where to find a Medical Marijuana Doctor in Hawaii?

The Hawaii Department of Health does not refer patients to physicians. The Hawaii Drug Policy Forum (DPF) is in the process of compiling a third party list of physicians that can assist patients. In the meantime, patients can email info@dpfhi.org with questions regarding finding a licensed physician.

A certifying physician must be a resident of HI and hold a current valid license. They must also be registered with the Department of Public Safety to prescribe controlled substances. In Hawaii, the patient must have an established relationship with the licensed physician.

Where are the legal cannabis dispensaries in Hawaii?

Medical marijuana has been legal in HI since 2000, but access to medical cannabis has been a challenge. The goal of the Medical Marijuana Dispensary Program is to make products easier to purchase. Medical marijuana dispensaries became legal in 2015. Act 241 allow up to 16 dispensaries statewide.

To apply for a dispensary license, there is a non-refundable $5,000 application fee. Only one licensed dispensary can be used, meaning applicants cannot operate multiple dispensaries in various counties.

Dispensaries must be enclosed indoor facilities, and the interior cannot be visible from the outside.

If there is not a dispensary on one of the islands, a qualified patient or primary caregiver is allowed to grow an adequate supply for the qualified patient’s personal use.

Wat does my medical card get me at a dispensary in Hawaii?

In HI, registered patients may legally possess the following:

• Up to four ounces of usable marijuana at any given time.
• No more than seven marijuana plants, whether immature or mature.

Where can you smoke?

All smoke-free laws in Hawaii apply to medical cannabis.

Registered patients and caregivers cannot smoke in the following places:

• All public areas, including parks, beaches, recreation centers, youth centers, school grounds.
• In any moving vehicle

Are patients and caregivers shielded from discrimination?

Yes. As long as the patient is registered and they submit their designated caregiver on their application, both will be shielded from discrimination.

Caregivers can only have one patient at a time. The caregiver must provide a copy of a valid HI state ID or driver’s license. The patient pays for the caregiver’s initial and renewal application fees.

The Future of the Medical Marijuana Program in Hawaii

In 2015 PTSD was added to the list of qualifying medical conditions.This goes to show the Medical Marijuana Program in Hawaii is changing and improving.

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PharmLabs Hawaii LLC will be offering laboratory testing and analytic services to ensure consumers have access to safe medicine.

The ISO 17025 accredit laboratory will offer testing that is compliant with the state if Hawaii’s Medical Marijuana Dispensary Program. The main laboratory and headquarters will be located in Kahului on Hookele Street, behind Home Depot.

PharmLabs Hawaii is in the process of getting a narcotics license, DEA license and final approval with the State of Hawaii’s Department of Public Health. Company representatives say equipment is being installed and calibrated now so the lab should be up and running soon.

According to PharmLabs LLC services to the Hawaiian Island will become available late this summer of 2016.

PharmLabs officials commented that “PharmLabs Hawaii will provide services on Oahu, Maui, Hawaii and Kauai which are all of the four islands participating in the Medical Marijuana Dispensary Program.”

“The expansion of PharmLabs to Hawaii will permit medical cannabis patients in Hawaii access to safe medicines ensuring the health of consumers. Soon to to open State-Licensed Dispensaries will be armed with necessary testing services to be able to provide their patients will clean, safe and appropriately dosed medicine. Using testing standards to comply with the Hawaii Administrative Rules of Title 11, Chapter 850 for the Medical Marijuana Dispensary Program, PharmLabs is synonymous with safety, compliance and accuracy,” a company announcement stated.

PharmLabs opened its first cannabis laboratory in San Diego, 2011. PharmLabs in owned and operated by native Californian Greg Magdoff. The company was one of the first ISO 17025 certified cannabis labs in the US and has received proficiency ring testing golf badges of +/- 2% in Potency and Residual Solvent testing from Emerald Scientific.

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One big hurdle is the state hasn’t certified a lab test to test the dispensaries’ products.

“On the dispensary front, they’re all doing their best to open their doors with as diverse a product line to serve all of the many needs of the patients…,” said Chris Garth, executive director of the Hawaii Dispensary Alliance. “Until those products can now be tested in a clinical capacity, no dispensary will be able to open their doors, no matter how perfect their product is.”

The state hasn’t yet received any applications from interested laboratories, said Janice Okubo, spokeswoman for the Department of Health.

Spectra Analytical Lab is working on an application, but the lab needs to be certified as meeting international standards, said Michael Covington, lead chemist.

“It’s a big deal for a lab to get that certification, and that’s why nobody’s applied yet,” Covington said.

If it s certification is granted, the lab aims to open by December, and would test products for potency and traces of substances like heavy metals and fungus, he said.

Hawaii was among the first states to legalize medical marijuana more then 15 years ago, but dispensaries were only legalized last year. The state’s estimated 13,000 patients approved for medical cannabis were generally left to buy it on the black market or grow it on their own.

There’s quite a long list of steps before dispensaries can open. They have to set up an indoor crop growing facility, get building permits and get a certificate from narcotics enforcement. Some dispensary executives say they hope to open by the end of 2016.

On Maui, dispensary licensee Pono Life Sciences has selected potential sites and is waiting for approval from the Department of Health, said chief agronomist, Dean Okimoto.

“I’m glad we’re going slow and cautiously because we want to be doing this the right way, and making sure that the people of Hawaii are protected in all of this,” Okimoto said.

Green Aloha, a dispensary on Kauai, hopes to begin growing plants, according to CEO Justin Britt. The company has obtained permits for its building as is working on a large electrical upgrade, but it’s still premature to project an opening date.

Hawaii announced licensees selected to open the state’s first medical marijuana dispensaries in April. Actor Woody Harrelson and video game entrepreneur Henk Rogers, famous for his work on “Tetris,” were among dozens who applied but were not selected.

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Rep. Cindy Evans introduces a resolution that looks at how much marijuana a driver can safely consume before getting behind the wheel.

Evans said, “Impaired driving is impaired driving and we have laws in the books for driving under the influence of alcohol, so why not under the influence of marijuana?”

the resolution asks the Department of Health to study the issue and establish a threshold and testing protocol that would determine whether someone is safe enough to drive after using marijuana.

“Medical marijuana is possibly a precursor to legalization and we as a society need to determine the consequences of having more marijuana in our community,” Evans said.

But DOH opposes the resolution saying it doesn’t have the capacity to study the complicated question, especially since it doesn’t include funding.

States including Colorado, Montana and Washington have laws specifying how much marijuana in the blood stream is acceptable while driving, but they set different standards and there’s no federal rule.

A Hawaii toxicologist says even if the Aloha State sets a limit, you need to draw blood to determine if a driver is stoned at the moment.

“A urine level wouldn’t be adequate,” said Scientific Director of Toxicology Carl Linden. “They would have to get a blood level because the blood is the only way to determine under the influence of a drug. I feel the pain of the DOH. It’s not easy but I can see it will have to be addressed in my opinion.

The House Committee on Transportation passed the resolution Monday and will now move on to the Committee on Health.

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