Former Honolulu Mayor Peter Carlisle and former state Attorney General David Louie are urging the Hawaii Supreme Court to reverse an opinion barring lawyers from helping to establish medical marijuana dispensaries.
A formal opinion issued last month by the Disciplinary Board of the Hawaii Supreme Court concludes that Hawaii lawyers may not “provide legal services to facilitate the establishment and operation of a medical marijuana business,” because selling pot is still considered a federal crime.
The Legislature passed a bill this year that allows for 16 dispensaries to open in Hawaii on July 15. The law allows for each licensee to operate two dispensaries and two grow centers: six on Oahu, four on Maui, four on Hawaii island and two on Kauai.
There are roughly 13,000 Hawaii residents registered to use medical marijuana, but under current state law they have to grow their own pot or buy it illegally.
Louie said he sent a letter, signed by 23 other lawyers, asking the court to re-examine the disciplinary rules.
“We’re interested that people who want to apply for dispensary licenses be able to obtain legal advice from lawyers so that all of us in the state can ensure safe, legal, appropriate access to medical marijuana for qualified patients,” he said. “It’s important that they act quickly.”
Separately, Carlisle told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that he is appealing to the court to withdraw the disciplinary board’s opinion and “fix the rule” through an amendment or comment to the rule that would allow attorneys to help establish pot dispensaries.
“The other reason it has to be done quickly is because there’s an immense amount of work that has to be put into one of these applications. Some of them exceed 1,000 pages in length,” said Carlisle, who represents the Wellness Group, a local consortium interested in vying for a dispensary license. “The goal of all of this is to establish a regulated statewide dispensary system for medical marijuana to ensure safe and legal access to pharmaceutical-grade cannabis for qualifying patients.”
Medical marijuana promoters estimate dispensaries in Hawaii could create a lucrative new market with up to 800 jobs and $65 million a year in sales.
Scott Williams, executive director of Hawaiian Cannabis Consulting, which is helping at least two groups apply for dispensaries on Oahu and Hawaii island, said his Honolulu attorney abruptly dropped them last week following the board’s ruling.
“It impacts everything that we’re doing right now,” he said. “We’re talking about a significant business structure, and it requires legal advice to ensure it’s set up properly. It’s extremely bad timing and puts people at risk.”
Bill Jarvis, chief executive officer of Kona Wellness, formed to compete for a dispensary license next year, said the ruling is a major setback for Hawaii’s medical marijuana program.
“This is just one of the many contradictions we see at both the state and federal levels,” said Jarvis, also CEO of cellphone provider Mobi PCS. “It does become a pretty tricky landscape quickly. Without having legal help, I don’t think it’s a very good place for someone to be. There’s going to be enough challenges making this industry a clean, respectable, crime-free industry. It is the responsible thing for the state to change that ruling.”
