Pubdate: Fri, 27 Mar 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: Marcel Honore

SENATE PANELS PASS DISPENSARY BILL

Hawaii's Medical Marijuana Patients Could See Outlets As Early As Next Year

The push to allow for medical marijuana dispensaries in Hawaii - some 
15 years after state leaders permitted medical use of the drug - 
continues to advance through the Legislature, with key lawmakers in 
support saying they hope to give the state's nearly 13,000 medical 
pot patients access to such outlets by early 2016.

On Wednesday the state Senate Health and Public Safety, 
Intergovernmental and Military Affairs committees unanimously voted 
to approve House Bill 321, which would create a framework to permit 
medical pot dispensaries across the islands.

The senators made their own amendments based on concerns they're 
hearing from state health and public safety officials. Notably, 
according to their committee report, the senators deleted a House 
provision that said at least 26 dispensary licenses would be available.

In recent hearings Sen. Josh Green (D, Naalehu-Kailua-Kona) has said 
he wants to "stand up" a program as soon as possible, giving the 
state's medical marijuana patients initial access to a smaller number 
of dispensaries and then expanding the program if the demand is there.

The move comes as some prodispensary lawmakers have expressed 
confidence that this could be the year that a framework finally becomes law.

Launching the statewide program with a "modest" number of 
dispensaries, perhaps in the low teens, could allow licensed 
operators to be approved in the fall and dispensaries opened in all 
counties in the first 90 days of 2016, Green said. If state leaders 
try to launch the program with a larger batch of dispensaries all at 
once, it could delay their opening by several years, he added.

House and Senate members will have to hash out the idea in 
conference, should the measure continue to advance. The Senate 
Judiciary and Ways and Means committees are slated to consider it next.

Gov. David Ige has also expressed support for giving qualified users 
legal access to the drug. Ige did not vote to approve the original 
2000 act allowing medical marijuana use when he was a lawmaker 
because it didn't offer such a mechanism for providing the drug to patients.

Currently it's up to all of the state's marijuana patients to grow 
their own supply.

Dispensary supporters say it's unrealistic to expect sick and elderly 
patients to be able to cultivate the drug on their own. However, 
opponents, including Rep. Marcus Oshiro (D, 
Wahiawa-Whitmore-Poamoho), have pointed to state public safety 
numbers that found fewer than 3 percent of patients were unable to 
obtain medical marijuana.

Green and supporters say they don't believe those numbers are 
accurate and that there's a strong statewide demand for dispensaries.

AT A HEARING Friday, Kaimuki resident Maria Eloisa Reyes and her son, 
19-year-old Kalani Reyes, told senators they're "out of options" for 
treating Kalani's lifelong severe epilepsy. They said they'd like for 
Kalani to try medical marijuana but that they don't have legal access 
to the drug and they wouldn't know how to properly cultivate it themselves.

Local law enforcement and public safety officials have repeatedly 
testified against the proposal, expressing concerns that the program 
could be abused by fraudulent users, who aren't patients, and that 
dispensaries could lead to more crime and consume more of the 
police's already limited resources.

Sen. Will Espero (D, Ewa Beach-Iroquois Point), a staunch dispensary 
supporter, argued at Friday's hearing that without those outlets many 
patients are currently acquiring pot that's "grown illegally, sold 
illegally and distributed illegally."

HAWAII'S UNIQUE existence as an island state could also create unique 
complications on the matter. State Deputy Attorney General Jill 
Nagamine strongly recommended to senators Friday that they include a 
ban on interisland travel with medical marijuana. However, such a ban 
could potentially exclude medical pot patients on Lanai and Molokai 
under a program with limited dispensaries per county if there are no 
such outlets available on those islands.

"That might be an exception that we have to pursue between that 
particular county," Green said Wednesday. "That has to be worked out."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom