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Actor Woody Harrelson, Hollywood producer Shep Gordon and dozens of high-profile attorneys, entrepreneurs and politicians are jumping on the opportunity to sell pot in Hawaii.
The state Health Department released Friday a list of 66 applicants for eight dispensary licenses that will allow for the opening of Hawaii’s first medical marijuana retail centers as early as July 15.
The list includes local doctors; video game entrepreneur Henk Rogers; Hawaii island farmer Richard Ha; “Hawaii Stars” television producer Dirk Fukushima; Michael Irish, owner of kim chee 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; Kimberly Dey, CEO of production companies Liquid Planet Studios and NumberEight; and Charles Kawakami, former president of Big Save supermarkets on Kauai.
Politicians and the politically connected are also vying for licenses.
Sen. J. Kalani English (D, Hana-East Maui-Upcountry Maui), a strong supporter of dispensaries and marijuana legalization, is part of Hawaii Medicinal Options LLC; Peter Carlisle, former Honolulu mayor and longtime city prosecutor, and David Louie, former state attorney general, are both representing groups in the running, as are Hawaii lobbyist John Radcliffe and attorney Lex Smith, former campaign manager for Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell.
Other well-known businessmen in the mix include insurance executive Colbert Matsumoto and Duane Kurisu, founder and chairman of aio, which operates media, technology and food outlets. Both are board members of Oahu Publications Inc., parent company of the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.
“This is a fledgling industry in its infancy, and we only expect it to grow in terms of medical cannabis. These individuals are trying to get on the ground floor,” said Sen. Will Espero (D, Ewa Beach-Ocean Pointe). “It will be profitable, no doubt. Just looking at the numbers and looking at the potential on my own, we’re talking definitively a multimillion-dollar industry split between eight applicants. Certainly these successful business people and others wouldn’t be looking at this if they felt they weren’t going to get a return on their investment.”
Estimated startup costs to open a local dispensary have ranged from $2 million to $12 million. However, the return on investment on what has become a booming industry on the mainland could be significant.
Medical marijuana advocates estimate Hawaii dispensaries could create as many as 800 jobs and generate $65 million a year in sales. Nationally, legal marijuana sales jumped to $5.4 billion in 2015 from $4.6 billion in 2014, according to the ArcView Group, a California-based marijuana research firm. The group forecasts U.S. sales to grow 25 percent to $6.7 billion this year.
With all the big-name applicants, the concern is that the selection process be fair, said Sen. Josh Green (D, Naalehu-Kailua-Kona). The Health Department has not disclosed who is on the selection committee.
“It’s going to be critical that no favoritism is shown and that they only ultimately give licenses to the most qualified applicants in order for people to have faith and trust in this process,” Green said. “It’s incumbent that this process is 100 percent transparent. Every citizen should have an equal opportunity.”
Hawaii legalized medical cannabis in 2000 but did not provide a legal way for patients to obtain the drug. Once dispensaries are open, state health officials project the number of certified patients to jump to 26,000 from about 13,000.
Act 241, adopted last year, authorizes the state Department of Health to issue eight dispensary licenses this year: three on Oahu, two each on Hawaii island and Maui, and one on Kauai. Each licensee will be allowed to operate two production centers with up to 3,000 marijuana plants each and two retail centers for a total of 16 dispensaries statewide.
The names of individual applicants and entities is posted online at health.hawaii.gov/medicalmarijuana. The state expects to select licensees by April 15.
Hawaii Marijuana Dispensary Applicants
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