2 isle companies get green light to grow medical marijuana

Hawaii’s first legal medical marijuana sales are now only a few months away.

Aloha Green Holdings Inc. on Oahu and Maui Grown Therapies, led by former Maui Land & Pineapple Co. Inc. CEO David Cole, received approval Wednesday from the state Health Department to start growing weed.

The companies won two of the eight licenses issued by the state in April, allowing them to open two retail dispensaries each and two production centers with up to 3,000 pakalolo plants each. Since April they have been going through the regulatory process for setting up their businesses.

“This announcement marks a significant milestone for the industry,” Aloha Green Chief Operating Officer Tai Cheng said in a news release, adding that licensees have been waiting for the Department of Health to install an online seed-to-sale tracking system that will monitor marijuana inventory and sales. “Building this industry from the ground up is challenging and complex. It’s a team effort.”

Aloha Green anticipates sales to begin in about three to four months at a dispensary on the ground floor of the Interstate Building at 1314 S. King St. next to Easy Music Center.

Maui Grown Therapies will open a retail storefront next to other medical and professional businesses at 44 Paa St. in the Maui Lani Village Center in Kahului.

Meanwhile, Maui Grown Therapies said it will offer a “range of cannabis derivative products in addition to flowers” in a 2,200-square-foot dispensary, which will have 25 employees. It is using a “micro-grid” system to provide the electricity needed for the first of two production centers on 7 acres of privately owned agricultural land in Kula. A second production center also will be powered by renewable energy, the company said.

Before retail sales can begin, the DOH must still contract with laboratories to test the potency and purity of the drugs, and the seed-to-sale tracking system must be able to connect with the state’s patient registry system to ensure patients do not purchase more than 4 ounces in a 15-day period. The law is silent on where the dispensaries will get the seeds or plants for cultivation.

The DOH said it is reviewing two applications from testing laboratories seeking to open on Maui and Oahu. The department also expects to connect the tracking system with the patient registry in about eight to 12 weeks. The Health Department said three other licensees have requested state inspections to begin cultivation this month: Manoa Botanicals LLC on Oahu; Green Aloha Ltd. on Kauai; and Pono Life Sciences LLC on Maui.

“Our staff has been working diligently to schedule and conduct inspections on multiple islands while completing training and testing of the seed-to-sale tracking system which is critical to all dispensary processes and required by law,” said Keith Ridley, chief of the DOH Office of Health Care Assurance, in a news release. “Today’s milestone is a major step forward, and the state and dispensaries have worked very hard to get to this point. There’s still much more work ahead as we take all the necessary steps to ensure safe products for Hawaii patients.”

Hawaii legalized medical cannabis in 2000, but patients did not have a legal way to obtain the drug. There are more than 15,000 medical marijuana patients registered with the state.

Act 241, passed in 2015, allowed the state to issue eight licenses for a total of 16 production centers and 16 dispensaries: three on Oahu; one on Kauai; and two each on Maui and the Big Island. Dispensaries were allowed to open as early as July 15, according to the law. They haven’t opened yet as the businesses have been gearing up and the state has been preparing its monitoring systems.

For more information on the medical marijuana dispensary program, go to health.hawaii.gov/medicalmarijuanadispensary.