So, proposed new laws might make it legal for cannabis dispensaries to grow pakalolo in sunlight, and nurses might be able to certify pot patients. Whoopee! Why not just decriminalize Hawaii's biggest cash crop, and tax dispensaries and growers, like grocery stores and farmers? End of story! Why is that so hard for the politicians to understand? It's about time government stops trying to protect people from themselves!

Fred Fogel

Volcano

[end]

With Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Coming Soon, the Debate Shifts to Decriminalizing Some Drugs

Thirteen years after Hawaii legalized medical marijuana, the state is finally forging ahead with licensing marijuana dispensaries, issuing licenses to eight applicants on Friday. As it has in other states, that policy shift could usher in a new era of social norms. Back in 1973, Oregon was the first state to decriminalize small amounts of cannibas for recreational use. Four decades later, Oregon voters said yes to legalizing marijuana, as Colorado and Washington had already done in 2012. Twenty states and Washington, D.C., have decriminalized marijuana possession.

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HONOLULU (AP) - With less than a week to go before the state is scheduled to announce the names of its first medical marijuana dispensary owners, lawmakers are considering a bill to clarify gaps in the dispensary law passed last year.

State lawmakers discussed a bill during a hearing Monday that would clear up tax problems and give certain nurses the ability to recommend medical marijuana for patients. It also would allow for interisland transport of medical marijuana for laboratory testing and make rules for what kind of marijuana products could be sold in dispensaries.

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Once a decade, the United Nations organizes a meeting where every country in the world comes together to figure out what to do about drugs - and up to now, they've always pledged to wage a relentless war, to fight until the planet is "drug-free." They've consistently affirmed U.N. treaties written in the 1960s and 1970s, mainly by the United States, which require every country to arrest and imprison their way out of drug-related problems.

But at this year's meeting in New York City later this month, several countries are going to declare: This approach has been a disaster. We can't do this anymore. Enough.

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It seems more than a little disingenious for some to be heaping blame on the state Department of Health (DOH) over the medical-marijuana licensure deadline, now moved back two weeks, from Friday to April 29.

After all, it took the state Legislature some 15 years after OK'ing medical marijuana use before it finally approved a pot-dispensaries law last year. Huge potential for money-making could be at stake, not to mention keiki and public safety.

The DOH did misstep when it initially tried to keep the licensee selection panel secret, but delaying an arbitrary final deadline by two weeks isn't as egregious as some imply.

[end]

Some Fear Dispensaries Will Limit Access and Be Cost-Prohibitive

Crippling stress, extreme pain and bad arthritis - for 72-year-old Subhadra Corcoran, cannabis is essentially the only fix.

The Kona resident has used the drug medicinally for decades. For the past 10 years, she's been a patient in Hawaii's medical marijuana program.

But later this year, when the state's first dispensaries can legally begin operating, Corcoran isn't planning to use them.

"I can't afford to buy pot," said Corcoran, who said she currently gets weed through a caregiver on the island. "I'm 72-years-old, disabled and living off Social Security ... if they had $10 (for an eighth of an ounce of marijuana), I would. If they would make it affordable and my insurance would cover, of course I would. But that's not going to happen."

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The county settled a lawsuit with a Puna man who claims police illegally confiscated the medical marijuana growing on his Fern Acres property almost four years ago.

The settlement with Brad Snow and three others was for a total of $4,800. Snow filed suit in May 2014, claiming his property was improperly raided during a marijuana eradication sweep June 14, 2012, even though the plaintiffs had medical marijuana cards and were in compliance with the law.

"The value of six months of marijuana growing in your backyard; they take it, and they don't give you anything for it," Snow said Tuesday. "They don't arrest you. They don't charge you. They just come and take your stuff. I did not have too many plants. I did not have too much marijuana."

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A House Resolution Requests a Study of Portugal, Which Stopped Prosecuting Users

Lawmakers in the House of Representatives want to study whether it would be feasible or wise to decriminalize possession of small quantities of illicit drugs for personal use in Hawaii.

House lawmakers Tuesday passed House Concurrent Resolution 127, which requests that the state Legislative Reference Bureau study the experience of Portugal. That European nation officially abolished all criminal penalties for possession of drugs for personal use in 2001.

Portugal still prosecutes major drug traffickers, but has made possession of small amounts of drugs an administrative violation that is handled without any criminal prosecutions. People who are caught with small quantities of drugs may be fined, referred to drug treatment or required to do community service.

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Not only did your newspaper make a rush to judgment (front page headlines above the fold on March 19) the local small and big box pharmacies have followed your lead and refuse to fill his prescriptions.

I would like to know if this is a conspiracy or mere coincidence. On March 22 Dr. Arrington wrote a prescription to me for an opiate for which I feel very thankful and fortunate to have been made available for the last 25 years due to a very painful debilitating progressive disease that will continue to painfully progress until I draw my last breath.

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State Lawmakers Ask DOH to Research That Question

HONOLULU (AP) - State lawmakers are asking how much marijuana a driver can safely consume before getting behind the wheel of a car.

It's an issue they want to tackle now that the state is setting up medical marijuana dispensaries. So, Rep. Cindy Evans, D-North Kona, North Kohala and South Kohala, and 15 other lawmakers introduced a resolution asking the state Department of Health to study whether a person can safely drive while under the influence.

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There were two letters in today's paper (March 9, "Vote Bernie") that were interesting and somewhat telling regarding the mentality of the left. The first from Stan White advocating Bernie for president. While neither he nor Clinton would be of any value to our country, justifying a vote for someone because they would help to legalize the use of marijuana in Hawaii is somewhat moronic.

Bernie, if elected, would attempt to bankrupt our nation with new and yet unheard of taxes in an effort to make everything "free" to those who are unwilling to work for a living. Perhaps Stan thinks his pot would be free also?

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HONOLULU (AP) - Industry experts say there are a lot of chemicals that could contaminate Hawaii's medical marijuana.

Dispensaries are set to open throughout the state in July, and lawmakers are pushing a broad bill to address many of the obstacles the industry is facing. One is how to regulate marijuana testing.

The proposed state law would set requirements for testing medical marijuana's potency and also would test for contaminants such as heavy metals, bacteria and pesticides, which industry experts say is necessary to ensure patient safety. Under state rules, dispensaries must send all marijuana products to a certified laboratory for testing.

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Outdated drug policies around the world have resulted in soaring drug-related violence, overstretched criminal justice systems, runaway corruption and mangled democratic institutions.

After reviewing the evidence, consulting drug policy experts and examining our own failures on this front while in office, we came to an unavoidable conclusion: The "war on drugs" is an unmitigated disaster.

FOR NEARLY a decade, we have urged governments and international bodies to promote a more humane, informed and effective approach to dealing with "illegal" drugs.

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Industry experts say there are a lot of chemicals that could contaminate Hawaii's medical marijuana.

Dispensaries are set to open in Hawaii in July, and state lawmakers are pushing a broad bill to address many of the obstacles the industry is facing. One is how to regulate marijuana testing.

The proposed Hawaii law would set requirements for testing medical marijuana's potency and would also test for contaminants such as heavy metals, bacteria and pesticides, which industry experts say is necessary to ensure patient safety. Under state rules, dispensaries must send all marijuana products to a certified laboratory for testing.

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Nearly 2-1/2 years after California revoked a physician's medical license for misconduct, local regulators decided Thursday to revoke his Hawaii credentials.

But the chairman of the Hawaii Medical Board, which voted to yank the license of Dr. Daniel Susott, said he's hoping future cases involving Hawaii-licensed physicians disciplined in other states take less time to resolve.

"We should not see cases like this anymore," Dr. Niraj Desai, who heads the panel that makes final disciplinary decisions involving doctors, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser after Thursday's board meeting.

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The concern about how the federal government will affect legalized medical cannabis (marijuana) dispensaries in the Hawaiian Islands (as a state of islands marijuana sales tricky for Hawaii, Feb. 29) is another reason to vote for Sen. Bernie Sanders on the March 26, Democratic Presidential Primary Caucus. Sanders, is committed to removing cannabis from its historically discredited Schedule I substance classification alongside heroin (while meth and cocaine are only Schedule II substances), which will allow interstate and interisland commerce without threat from the federal government.

Stan White

Dillon, Colo.

[end]

Feasibility Study Suggests Crop Will 'Grow Like Gangbusters'

Bills that would allow the state Department of Agriculture to create pilot research programs for industrial hemp are moving through both chambers of the state Legislature.

"I'm very happy that the bill is alive at this point," state Sen. Russell Ruderman, D-Puna, said of SB 2659, the Senate measure he co-introduced.

SB 2659 and its House counterpart, HB 2555, are not companion bills, but have the same aim of establishing the DOA research program.

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It appears there are too many questionable hands adding ingredients to the pot regarding marijuana here in Hawaii.

Whatever is cooking is producing a stinking odor.

First, the state Department of Health said no to releasing names of those who will decide who gets a dispensary license.

Next, marijuana has to be grown in warehouses using electricity instead of taking advantage of our plentiful sunlight. The high cost of electricity would drive the consumer price sky-high.

Finally the state gets gigantic tax revenues due to marijuana's high sales price. So it seems that the state's revenue would increase from marijuana rather than gambling.

What does the state consider worse: gambling or increasing crime and the increased drug use that results from marijuana leading to harder drugs?

Teresa Mary Tugadi

Mililani

[end]

Geography of State May Prove Challenging for Marijuana Industry

HONOLULU - With less than five months to go before medical marijuana dispensaries can open in Hawaii, business owners could be facing unique obstacles in a state of islands separated by federal waters.

Dispensaries can open as soon as July 15, but industry experts say they could be confronted with challenges unlike those in other states, such as navigating rules that ban inter-island transport and limit the number of growers - all of which could cause marijuana shortages. A lack of labs to test the crop presents another challenge for state lawmakers.

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As a growing number of states recognize the importance of providing legal access to patients who benefit from medical marijuana, it becomes even more implausible that research is so uniquely - and unfairly - restricted.

Patients with conditions such as PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), epilepsy, chronic pain and migraines deserve research that can determine the optimum medication content and procedure.

Even with research that has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), federal policies require a redundant, multi-agency review process that creates unnecessary red tape and wasteful government spending.

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