A bill to authorize the first legal medical marijuana dispensaries in Hawaii cleared a critical hurdle at the Legislature this week by winning approval from the House Finance Committee. That nod from the powerful committee that controls state funding means the bill is now positioned for a vote by the full state House of Representatives.
Nearly 15 years after state lawmakers approved the prescription and use of medical marijuana, patients still have no legal way of purchasing cannabis. They are in effect legally required to grow their own supply, and officials say many are apparently relying instead on the black market for marijuana to obtain medicinal pot.
House Bill 321 would authorize at least 26 dispensary licenses to set up shop to serve the state’s 13,000 registered medical marijuana patients statewide, and mandates establishing at least one dispensary in each county. Dispensaries would be banned from all areas within 750 feet of playgrounds, public housing projects and schools.
Dispensary licenses would be issued by the Health Department starting next year, and the first dispensaries could open as early as July 1, 2017. A dispensary license would cost $20,000, and the department would also collect an annual $30,000 renewal fee to cover the cost of regulating the distribution operations.
The bill also allows the manufacture of capsules, lozenges, oils or pills using marijuana as an ingredient, and requires the state Department of Health to establish standards for advertising and packaging of cannabis.
Hawaii County and Honolulu police departments opposed the dispensary bill, with Honolulu police warning the bill could create new difficulties for police as they attempt to enforce controlled substance laws, "arguably inviting, significant increases in illicit distribution."
Hawaii County Police Chief Harry Kubojiri expressed concern that the bill would allow each user to obtain up to eight ounces of marijuana per month — or the equivalent of about 448 marijuana cigarettes — which could lead to "severe addiction."
"We are hard-pressed to imagine how someone using that much marijuana will be able to function in society except in extreme cases where they are homebound" and suffering from a terminal disease, Kubojiri said in written testimony. "Therefore, if indeed persons are to be allowed that amount of marijuana, we believe they will become highly dependent upon it, and will need treatment and other services."
Maui Police Chief Tivoli Faaumu said it would cost the Maui department an extra $222,000 per year to train field officers to detect motorists under the influence of marijuana, and an additional $494,000 to train specialists to pursue the cases that are identified by the field officers.
Faaumu also warned that Colorado has reported a growing influx of homeless people in the wake of marijuana legalization there.
The dispensary bill is supported by the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs, the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, the Community Alliance on Prisons, the Drug Policy Forum of Hawaii and other groups.
Andrea Tischler of the Hawaii island chapter of Americans for Safe Access said some patients who have prescriptions for medical marijuana are too sick to grow their own plants, or lack the skill to grow their own.
"Law-abiding patients and caregivers want to remain law abiding, but the way the current medical cannabis law is worded, patients and caregivers are forced to turn to the black market or other illegal avenues to obtain the medicine that they have the legal right to use," she said in written testimony.
The House Finance Committee approved the bill Tuesday in a 13-2 vote, with Reps. James Tokioka (D, Wailua-Hanamaulu-Lihue) and Gene Ward (R, Kalama Valley-Queen’s Gate-Hawaii Kai) voting against the measure.
Gov. David Ige has expressed support for giving qualified users legal access to medical marijuana.
