Pubdate: Sat, 21 Mar 2015
Source: Honolulu Star-Advertiser (HI)
Copyright: 2015 Associated Press
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: Cathy Bussewitz, Associated Press

PATIENTS AND POLICE SPEAK OUT ON POT DISPENSARY BILL

(AP) - State senators are taking up a proposal to develop a system of 
medical marijuana dispensaries, which would give patients legal 
access to the drug nearly 15 years after it became legal in Hawaii.

A Senate panel heard the proposal Friday.

Maria Eloisa Reyes attended the hearing with her son, who, because of 
a medical condition, has about 14 seizures per month despite taking 
several medications, she said. The seizures last as long as a 
half-hour. Reyes wants her son to try medical marijuana, and she has 
a degree in agriculture, but she doesn't believe she can grow the 
plant herself because she doesn't have legal access to the correct 
strain to help her son, she said.

"We tried a lot of things already, and we're out of options," Reyes 
said. "He is not a candidate for brain surgery. ... We would like to 
try medical marijuana."

Sen. Josh Green (D, Naalehu-Kailua-Kona), chairman of the Senate 
Health Committee, said, "You guys are very much the reason we are 
here today to pass this legislation."

THE HONOLULU Police Department opposed the bill but said if the 
Legislature is going to pass it, it should consider changing the bill 
so that it allows just one permit for each county that covers 
everything from cultivation to manufacturing.

"I cannot even begin to imagine what the cost would be to oversee all 
of it" if there were 26 dispensaries, said Jason Kawabata, acting 
major of the HPD's Narcotics/Vice Division. "If it's just one site, 
it would be much easier to inspect." He also suggested allowing 
unannounced inspections of dispensaries.

Sen. Will Espero, chairman of the Committee on Public Safety, 
Intergovernmental and Military Affairs, questioned why law 
enforcement would be against the proposal, considering that many 
medical marijuana patients are left to buy the drug on the black market.

"There could be fights or turf battles, all because of this," said 
Espero (D, Ewa Beach-Iroquois Point). "There is a criminal element 
now that's likely involved in medical marijuana."

ISLAND-HOPPING with medical marijuana could present serious problems, 
according to representatives from the state Attorney General 
Department. The bill would allow dispensary employees to deliver 
medical marijuana on interisland flights, essentially mandating that 
a state agency permit a violation of federal law.

"We cannot support interisland travel with marijuana. ... We 
strenuously want this committee to understand that if that provision 
remains in the bill, it might necessitate a veto recommendation," 
said Jill Nakamine, deputy attorney general.

The bill also seeks to prevent counties from enacting zoning 
regulations that discriminate against dispensaries.

There are thousands of cancer patients in Hawaii who could benefit 
from medical marijuana, said John Radcliffe, president of Capital 
Consultants of Hawaii, adding that he's a stage 4 liver and colon 
cancer patient.

"You ought to at last end the cruel hopes now being perpetrated on 
all Hawaii patients that we have a medical marijuana program when we 
really don't," Radcliffe said.

Lawmakers planned to continue working out the details and postponed 
making a decision until Wednesday afternoon, Green said.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom