Pubdate: Sun, 08 Feb 2015
Source: Honolulu Star-Advertiser (HI)
Copyright: 2015 Star Advertiser
Contact: 
http://www.staradvertiser.com/info/Star-Advertiser_Letter_to_the_Editor.html
Website: http://www.staradvertiser.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/5154
Author: Gary T. Kubota

STATE NEEDS POT DISPENSARIES, BACKERS SAY

Jari Sugano said she supports a bill that would make dispensing 
marijuana easier to help her 6-year-old daughter, Maile, who suffers 
from seizures.

"It's time to come together and support this," said Sugano, sitting 
next to Maile, who was in a wheelchair at a legislative hearing Saturday.

State laws allow the use of marijuana for medical purposes and for 
people to grow or have grown enough to supply 4 ounces at a time. But 
Sugano and others told lawmakers Saturday that obtaining the drug is 
difficult because it's illegal to sell it in Hawaii.

A joint committee of the House Judiciary Committee and Health 
Committee is poised Tuesday morning to vote on a measure that would 
allow marijuana dispensaries.

Committee members heard close to four hours of testimony on House 
Bill 321, which would establish a system of medical marijuana 
dispensaries and production centers in Hawaii.

The bill said the dispensaries were needed in light of the inability 
of nearly 13,000 qualified patients to grow their own supply. Some 
are disabled, while others have limited space for a crop.

Physicians said passing the bill will help patients and prevent them 
from turning to the black market.

But law enforcement officers said the bill provides no tracking system.

State Deputy Attorney General Jill Nagamine raised questions about 
the bill's requirement that at least 26 dispensaries be licensed in 
the state by Jan. 1, 2019.

Nagamine said the number of dispensaries should be left to the state 
Department of Health, the agency responsible for developing 
regulations for dispensaries.

"We think the selection of that number is premature," she said.

Drug Free Hawaii spokesman Allen Shin said he felt further discussion 
was needed to prevent commercialization and ensure no harm would 
happen to the public.

Backers of the bill were critical of any further delays.

Keoni Ward said his father sometimes used medical marijuana in place 
of opiates before dying from cancer in December. That allowed him 
better quality time with his grandchildren and other family members, he said.

"There's people who are not going to be around in two years," Ward 
said. "We need to do it today."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom