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One of Oahu’s state-approved medical marijuana dispensaries has started growing Hawaii’s first legal cannabis plants, and anticipates sales can begin in early summer.
The Department of Health earlier this month approved Aloha Green Holdings Inc. and two other dispensaries to start acquiring and cultivating seeds, clones and plants.
“Feb. 1 we got the green light, so we just put seeds in the ground,” Helen Cho, director of integrated strategy, said Sunday from Aloha Green’s booth at the Hawaii Cannabis Expo at the Neal Blaisdell Center. “Now that the seeds are in the ground, we have an understanding of when we’ll be ready on our end, which is early summer.”
The company will have a dispensary in the Interstate Building on South King Street.
Cho said that before retail sales can begin, the Health Department still needs to contract with laboratories to test the safety and quality of products, and the state’s so-called seed-to-sale tracking system has to be connected with the state’s patient registry system to monitor purchases. There are more than 15,000 medical marijuana patients registered with the state.
“If those two things aren’t completed on the DOH side, even if we’re ready we won’t be able to sell,” Cho said. “So we’ve been telling people that we’ll be ready this summer, but we’ll see if that’s what actually happens. We remain optimistic. We understand that they’re building this whole industry from the ground up.”
Hawaii legalized medical marijuana in 2000, but patients did not have a legal way to obtain the drug. A 2015 law allowed the state to issue eight licenses for a total of 16 production centers and 16 dispensaries. Eight licenses were awarded statewide in April, but none of the entities has begun operations due to delays in getting the dispensary program up and running.
With dispensaries starting to get the go-ahead to grow, organizers and vendors at this weekend’s Hawaii Cannabis Expo said the event took on a more professional tone this year.
The three-day event featured more than just smoking accessories and apparel for sale. There was a heavier emphasis on the medical side of marijuana: companies specializing in extraction of plant concentrates, home-growing tools and educational seminars led by medical experts.
“We’ve done a really good job in shifting the attitude about how professional this industry is, how professional it could be, by bringing in every component from legitimate businesses,” said Chris Garth, executive director of the Hawaii Dispensary Alliance, an advocacy group for patients, dispensaries and related businesses. “I think people expect to see bongs and dreadlocks and reggae music. While that is a component — it’s visible — the majority of this is wellness-based. It’s wellness based on an alternative to opioids, wellness based on a different approach to pain management, to anxiety, to PTSD.”
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