Pubdate: Thu, 18 Feb 2016
Source: Honolulu Star-Advertiser (HI)
Copyright: 2016 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: Kristen Consillio

WEEDING THROUGH POT BILLS

Lawmakers Are Considering Loosening Dispensary Rules and Allowing Greenhouses

Advanced practice registered nurses, who already prescribe 
prescription drugs, could start certifying patients for medical 
marijuana under a bill passed out of committee Wednesday.

House Bill 2707, one of roughly 60 bills related to medical 
marijuana, also permits pot samples to be transported interisland for 
testing and eliminates penalties for patients who use paraphernalia, 
such as pipes and vape pens, to take their medicine. Friday is an 
internal deadline to move bills to the next committee to keep them alive.

The bill loosens the dispensary rules by clarifying that background 
checks won't be required for patients, caregivers and government 
employees entering a marijuana shop, and allows the University of 
Hawaii to conduct independent lab testing of pakalolo for medical 
research. The measure overrides Health Department rules prohibiting 
dispensary sales of cigarettes, patches and aerosol containers used 
to inhale the drug.

"Momentum is behind improving the medical marijuana program," said 
Becky Dansky, legislative analyst for the Marijuana Policy Project in 
Washington, D.C., a nonprofit advocacy organization that is tracking 
legislation in Hawaii. "Everyone's just really focused on fixing the 
medical marijuana program since they're hoping to have that up and 
running by this summer. This is a very new issue for states and it's 
happening very quickly."

Lawmakers are holding a hearing today on another key bill making 
headway at the Legislature. Senate Bill 2523 would allow marijuana 
producers to use greenhouses, shade houses and open-air growing 
centers, currently banned under Health Department rules. Another 
measure, Senate Bill 3009, would give doctors more discretion to 
certify patients for medical marijuana.

Hawaii legalized medical cannabis in 2000 but did not provide a way 
for patients to obtain the drug. Act 241, signed into law last year, 
authorizes the Department of Health to issue eight dispensary 
licenses: three on Oahu, two each on Hawaii island and Maui, and one 
on Kauai. Each licensee will be allowed to operate two production 
centers and two retail centers for a total of 16 dispensaries 
statewide, starting as early as July.

Despite the numerous marijuana-related bills, about half of which 
carried over from last session, legislators are not making any major 
changes to the medical cannabis program. Bills to decriminalize 
recreational marijuana use are not moving forward, nor is a bill to 
issue temporary medical marijuana cards to patients while they wait 
to get their permanent cards.

"One of the things we pushed for that is not going to happen is 
temporary certificates for patients. The DOH convinced the 
Legislature that it's not necessary, which is very shortsighted. 
There was a backlog just a few months ago," said Carl Bergquist, 
executive director of the Drug Policy Forum of Hawaii. "To not have a 
mechanism in place to deal with that seems unfortunate."

The DOH announced Wednesday that it is now able to issue patient 
registration cards for medical marijuana in a fraction of the time it 
took a year ago. With the introduction of a new online registry, it 
takes three to five business days for the department to issue 
registration cards to patients, down from six to eight weeks when 
there was a backlog of patients last year. The department expects the 
number of patients to double to 26,000 from about 13,000 with the 
opening of dispensaries.

"Without compromising the integrity of our review process or the 
safety of Hawaii's people, we brought everything up to speed and 
improved our processing time so that patients can receive their 
registration cards faster," said Scottina Ruis, the Health 
Department's medical marijuana registry program coordinator, in a 
news release. "With the dispensary program targeted to be in 
operation as early as July 2016, medical marijuana will be more 
accessible. The online registration process is the first step to help 
ensure that we are ready for any increase in demand for registration cards."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom