Bill allows tourists to buy medical marijuana

Out-of-state marijuana patients visiting Hawaii soon may be allowed to buy their medicinal pot at local dispensaries, a potential boon to the fledgling cannabis industry.

A bill allowing so-called reciprocity has gained enough support to become law, passing out of a key legislative committee Friday and positioned for a full legislative vote. If the bill passes the Legislature, it would go to the governor for final approval.

The bill establishes a process that requires the state Health Department to register out-of-state patients and caregivers so tourists would be able to purchase and use the drug legally while in the islands. Currently, only local marijuana cardholders can legally use pakalolo.

“It could be a boon for this industry and for this state, but it needs to be done well. Under the original law, reciprocity should have been in effect since Jan. 1,” said Helen Cho, spokeswoman for Aloha Green Apothecary, Oahu’s first dispensary. “We don’t know how long it will take for the state to be able to accept visitors, especially when the version being considered now is extremely restrictive.”

While voting for reciprocity, lawmakers cut out other parts of the legislation, including provisions that would have:

>> Prohibited employers from firing workers with cannabis cards who test positive for the drug.

>> Allow dispensaries to sell edibles.

Lawmakers instead requested another working group to study those issues.

“We are extremely disappointed that employee protections and edibles have been consigned to yet another working group,” said Carl Bergquist, executive director of the Drug Policy Forum of Hawaii, who was part of a legislative group established two years ago to study the issues. “It is hard to overstate how much current and prospective patients … would benefit from being able to buy quality controlled edibles from dispensaries and from having minimal protections against being arbitrarily fired for using a medicine that has been legal in Hawaii for nearly 20 years.”

The state is sending mixed messages to patients, he said.

“It’s hard to overestimate how important both of those are in a state where we have really strong anti-smoking policies,” he said. “This bill would neither have allowed a patient to use their medical cannabis at work nor to be impaired on the job. Any notion that a positive test for cannabis, especially for a registered medical cannabis patient, correlates with job performance is one based on fear and stigma.”