Marijuana will sprout in a garden of paperwork

Storefront medical marijuana sales on Oahu are now expected to get underway by late spring. Dispensaries were allowed to open in mid-July, according to state law. But business prep and the gearing up of state monitoring systems have pushed back start dates.

Two licensees are now good to grow. But before sales begin, the state must contract with labs to test potency and purity, and a seed-to-sale tracking system must connect with a registry system to ensure some 15,000 patients do not buy more than 4 ounces in a 15-day period. Will all that apparatus be in place by late spring? We’ll see.

Who would want to run OHA’s board?

When a narrow majority elects someone to chair a board, it only takes a narrow vote to dislodge them. So after a bruising two months at the helm of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs Board of Trustees, Rowena Akana, elected by a 5-4 majority, has been ousted from the post.

Lei Ahu Isa, originally part of Akana’s majority, joined the minority to get that done. As the sitting vice chairwoman, she is taking over the top post on an interim basis, asserting that she doesn’t want the job long-term.

Who would, after all that drama? Well, someone will, in the end. Watch this space.