Legal pot sales begin on Big Island

Cannabis patients on the Big Island can legally buy pakalolo starting today.

Big Island Grown Dispensaries, formerly known as Lau Ola, will open today at Hilo’s Lehua Center at 750 Kanoelehua Ave.

“We have over 100 unique strains and phenotypes that we will be rolling out over the next year along with a large diversity of high-quality concentrates and manufactured products,” said CEO Dylan Shropshire, adding that patients can get discounted buds while supplies last. “We plan on always pricing affordably and providing patients with the best in-store experience possible.”

The dispensary plans to begin selling dried flowers this week. A variety of other strains, as well as oils, tinctures, topicals, cartridges and other manufactured products, will be sold at a later date. The company plans to open two other locations this month, in the Malama Pono Center in Waimea and in the Brewers Block in Kona.

The dispensary said it will offer a “mix and match” program so patients can pick up to eight strains for the price of an ounce.

“The opening of a medical cannabis dispensary on Hawaii island expands options for registered patients and their caregivers, providing greater access to meet medical needs,” said Michele Nakata, supervisor of the DOH medical cannabis dispensary program.

As of Nov. 30, 6,659 cannabis patients and 383 caregivers were living on the Big Island. Statewide there were 23,479 patients and 1,734 caregivers.

Big Island Grown is Hawaii island’s first dispensary and the seventh statewide to receive approval from the Department of Health to begin marijuana sales.

The state legalized medical cannabis in 2000, but patients had no legal way to obtain the drug until Maui Grown Therapies opened in August 2017, followed by Aloha Green Apothecary in Honolulu. The other pot retailers include Pono Life Maui and Noa Botanicals and Cure Oahu in Honolulu. In May, Green Aloha Ltd., doing business as Have a Heart, also started sales on Kauai. In August, Hawaiian Ethos, the other Big island dispensary, received approval to start growing cannabis but has not received the green light yet to begin sales.

For more information on the dispensary program, go to health.hawaii.gov/medicalcannabis.