66, including actor Woody Harrelson, apply to open Hawaii pot shops
ASSOCIATED PRESS / NOV. 27
A bud tender holds two marijuana buds on his fingers on the way to a customer at the Denver Kush Club in north Denver.
The applicants for medical marijuana store licenses in Hawaii include a variety of entrepreneurs, doctors, attorneys, the politically connected and celebrities.
The state Health Department received 66 applications, including from actor and marijuana activist Woody Harrelson, video game entrepreneur Henk Rogers and Big Island farmer Richard Ha.
The DOH released the list today of applicants for eight dispensary licenses that will allow for the first marijuana retail centers to open as early as July 15. The application period ran from Jan. 12 to Jan. 29.
The list also includes local eye doctors, “Hawaii Stars” television producer Dirk Fukushima; Michael Irish, owner of kimchee maker Halm’s Enterprises and Keoki’s Lau Lau; former St. Francis Healthcare Systems executive Eugene Tiwanak; former city budget director and Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transit chairman Ivan Lui-Kwan; and Charles Kawakami, the former president of Big Save supermarkets on Kauai and a former University of Hawaii regent.
Act 241, adopted this year, authorizes the state Department of Health to issue eight dispensary licenses next year and potentially many more in 2017. Each licensee will be allowed to operate two dispensaries and two growing centers: six on Oahu, four on Maui, four on Hawaii island and two on Kauai.
DOH said other information on dispensary applications is confidential.
The state expects to select and announce licensees by April 15.
Marijuana Dispensary List
25 responses to “66, including actor Woody Harrelson, apply to open Hawaii pot shops”
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WOW. I would think the way to do it is pick out a homeless–someone with no political intentions and have him/her pick out the winners out of a hat. Otherwise–I see a lot of envelopes running around. There is no fair way!!
Dumbest legislation the legislature passed. We not have a pot-head trying to get a dispensary.
Its something the free market would easily decide> Just legalize it, let it go on the market and if its successful, and we know it will be, then add the GE tax (after an intro period w/out tax) and collect.
Free Market —> What part of that basic concept do these control freaks not understand!!!
if Harrelson gets his he won’t have to look around for his stash when he
comes to the islands.
Legalize it for everybody over 18. This charade of pretending to have a medical problem that requires marijuana to treat it is demeaning for all concerned. All these regulations and rules are ridiculous. Grow it, sell it, buy it if you want — government stay out of it.
At least with Woody selling it you know there will be a lot of quality control testing going on.
The camel nose under the tent for the State of Hawaii to become the illegal drug State in the United States and the Pacific Basin. Pressure will be now placed on the Federal Government to legalize marijuana, and every other illegal Schedule I drug. A huge win for the Progressives.
Not progressives, as they want State intervention almost everywhere else, but for free market libertarian ideas this could be a good opportunity.
Agree, so-called “progressives” generally support the most repressive and anti-personal freedom initiatives from an increasingly intrusive government bureaucracy.
Um, if we legalize it, it won’t be an “illegal drug”. Put down da Lucky Lager and just back away.
Wish SA would print a complete list of all those who have applied for a license. I believe we all would be surprised as it would be a list of the rich and famous.
Wish I had the bucks to apply for a license.
They should just legalize marijuana and be done with it. Why only 8?
Because the medical dispensaries represent de facto legalization, and extracting vast sums of money first from these naive applicants is government income distribution at its finest. Anyone in Hawaii can easily grow plants in their backyards or a windowsill, so commercial suppliers will soon go the way of the dinosaurs.
Not funny and quite concerning. We meed to know that Medical Marijuana will be used for legitimate medical reasons. I am not so sure,M
Why can’t SA ever include links to the information that their articles refer to? If you can’t list the 66 applicants, give us a link to the list.
Check the Department of Health website.
Sheesh! Nothing’s been right since the baby came…. the whole place is going to pot.
They are coming out of the cracks in the wall to make money. It is and will become an even bigger money maker.
SA fail….no comments on how the selection process other then “The state expects to select and announce licensees by April 15.”. Really your dear readers want more then that. Who’s on the selection committee, how come it’s not a lottery, what kind of revenue is projected etc…
For those of you planning to apply, send your envelopes of love to DOH! 1250 Punchbowl St. Honolulu, HI 96813.
Hey! How did that farmer get in there???
That potent smell? No, no, it’s not the herb.
That’s the smell of money — big money!
Back in the heyday of the early ’70s in Puna, Kona and the Hamakua Coast, when we rented school cafetoriums for our harvest festivals and hung notices for them in the windows of the local drive-inns, we neva wen figgah things would come to this point. Get ready for ‘mershalize da herb, ’cause big money li’dat.
HanabataDays, and where will the money come from? The money is coming from those who cannot afford the illegal drug and then becoming addicted, then they become the dealers to expand the market? Yep, it’s the guy’s and gal’s at the top pocketing the big money and supplying the users who are slowly killing themselves.
Politicians greatest strength lies in the weakness of their convictions.