In 2000, Hawaii’s Legislature was the first in the nation to pass medical marijuana legislation to provide medical relief for the state’s seriously ill.

Existing law recognizes the benefits of marijuana for alleviating pain and other symptoms associated with certain debilitating illnesses, but patients until now have to obtain marijuana on the "black market" or must grow their own supply of medical marijuana. The plain fact is: It does not work.

Fifteen years ago, Hawaii led by example and now we must do it again by passing legislation to create a well-regulated cultivation and retail dispensary system.

In order to ensure the highest standards are met, we urge five common-sense recommendations to the two bills, House Bill 321 and Senate Bill 682, now being considered before the state Legislature.

» First, we argue that Hawaii dispensaries and cultivation centers be "seed to sale" operations. Simply put, the left hand needs to know what the right hand is doing. The Attorney General’s Office was spot-on when it advocated for "a single, combined license for both the production aspect and the dispensary aspect of the system" and made the case that a vertically integrated system would "make regulation and tracking much simpler, and, in theory, … improve inventory management, quality controls, and security."

At present, the legislation before the Legislature does not ensure vertical integration. Hawaii patients would be faced with a piecemeal retail network of questionable products and the door is left wide open for potential problems like the "diversion of revenue" or "off the book" sales.

» Second, legislators should not try to recreate the wheel when creating regulations for the marijuana industry. We have workers who work every day in many industries, guided by thousands of pages of state statutes and regulations for a multitude of consumer products. The Legislature should take into account the sound research and best practices that have given us decades of laws and regulations in the retail, manufacturing and agriculture sectors.

» Third, the jobs created in this emerging industry should allow employees to make a decent living with benefits. Workers should also have the opportunity to collectively bargain with their employers. Training will be an important component in professionalizing this new industry and an employee apprenticeship training program similar to other sectors could be adopted. This type of training would go a long way to preventing all kinds of problems and making the system successful.

» Fourth, all patients have the right to know what is in the product they are purchasing and consuming. Every medical marijuana product batch should be lab-tested for safety and quality. Testing labs should meet the International Organizations for Standardization (ISO) standards — the same standard blood labs use.

» Finally, when it comes to medical marijuana in Hawaii, science should dictate public policy. Institutions such as the University of Hawaii medical school should be encouraged to lead the nation in medical research on the effects of marijuana on patients and the various symptoms and diseases it aims to alleviate. But even if they do not, if the university chooses not to do research in this arena, the question must not be lost. When it comes to licensing operators, HB 321 and SB 682 should prioritize those businesses currently involved in clinical medical marijuana research to operate in our state.

By leading with standards second to none, we can ensure all residents on all the islands have uniform, enforceable medical marijuana retail operations that are regulated by policies that limit any threats to public safety and properly address the care for the health of Hawaii’s residents.