The state Department of Health opened an 18-day bidding window today for companies interested in competing for medical marijuana dispensary licenses.

This year Hawaii is joining at least 18 other states in legalizing the commercial production and distribution of medical marijuana. Under Act 241, 16 medical marijuana dispensaries will be licensed to open starting July 15.

Several experienced Hawaii businessmen have said they plan to apply for licenses.

Companies will need to dish out $5,000 just to apply and pay a $75,000 license fee if their application is selected. To make a bid, a company must show that it has at least $1 million worth of financial resources for each license, as well as $100,000 for each retail outlet. There is a $50,000 annual license renewal fee and an estimated $2 million to $5 million a year in overhead costs.

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It's been a sad week for agriculture in Hawaii - and not only because Alexander & Baldwin Inc. announced that it's closing Hawaii's last sugar plantation, the company's 36,000acre farm on Maui.

The same day, longtime Hawaii island farmer Richard Ha told employees he's shutting down his Hamakua Springs Country Farms, at least for the growing of crops that people eat.

Ha stopped growing his tomatoes last year and now will no longer produce his mainstay bananas after the current crop goes to market.

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Cocaine use in the workplace doubled in the fourth quarter from the year-earlier period while marijuana still remained the drug of choice.

Among employees and job applicants tested for drugs, 0.4 percent tested positive for cocaine during the final three months of the year, according to a report Tuesday by Honolulu-based Diagnostic Laboratory Services Inc. That's up from 0.3 percent in the third quarter and double the 0.2 percent who tested positive for the drug in the fourth quarter of 2014.

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In the "hurry up and wait" mode that defines Hawaii's lawmaking process, new rules launching the state's medical marijuana industry have been rushed, less than a year after a law finally sanctioned dispensaries, and 15 years after Hawaii approved medical marijuana use but without legal means of buying the drug.

The harried nature of the rulemaking, coupled with lawmakers' criticisms of the crucial ground rules, are unsettling - so much so that it behooves officials to pause the timetable to do this properly.

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Regarding medical marijuana distribution, I think all parties have it wrong.

Hawaii County Councilwoman Margaret Wille is opposed to Oahu-based rules, rightly so, calling for county control and addressing certain areas where a "drug problem exists."

She's right. A drug problem exists, due to the illegality of marijuana itself, creating black markets and so-called "crimes."

My solution is simple: no regulation at all. Legalization of medical marijuana was enacted to help the needy, not to line the pockets of the greedy.

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The State Department of Health Is Criticized for Its New Regulations on Medical Marijuana

Hawaii lawmakers criticized top Department of Health officials on Monday over new rules governing the growth and sale of medical marijuana, saying that health officials may have overstepped their statutory authority by prohibiting the use of greenhouses and excluding official retail outlets from selling rolled marijuana cigarettes and certain smoking paraphernalia.

"I get very frustrated when executive departments establish rules that go beyond what the Legislature opined," Sen. Roz Baker (D, West Maui-South Maui) told health officials who testified in front of a joint hearing of the House Health Committee and Senate Commerce, Consumer Protection and Health Committee. "The Legislature makes policy and the executive branch implements that policy. So I would like you ... to look at those rules and in areas where they go beyond what the statute says specifically, take them down. They don't belong there."

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Twenty-three states plus the District of Columbia have legalized medical cannabis, and more are coming on board each year.

The belief that cannabis has no medicinal efficacy has been disproven in privately funded studies.

More clinical trials are critically needed. Yet, those studies cannot be performed as long as the Drug Enforcement Administration classifies cannabis as a Schedule I drug, which places it as having no medical use. This needs to change, and soon.

Congress is not moving fast enough, but there is another route: rescheduling cannabis as a Schedule II drug by executive order.

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Four Hawaii doctors earlier this month filed a petition with the state to put pressure on the federal government to change the classification of medical marijuana.

Marijuana is classified by the Drug Enforcement Administration as a "Schedule I controlled substance," the most dangerous category of controlled substances, which includes heroin, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and Ecstasy.

Dr. Clifton Otto of Honolulu and three other Hawaii doctors asked state Attorney General Douglas Chin to push for removing marijuana from the Schedule I list.

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Enclosed-Growing Rule Could Cost Kauai Dispensary Investors Millions

A definition in the interim administrative rules for medical marijuana dispensaries posted this month could cost Kauai dispensary investors millions of dollars in utility and construction costs.

According to the interim rules, medically-grown marijuana shall be grown "in an enclosed indoor facility," as required by HB 321, the state law creating the dispensary program. An enclosed indoor facility rules out greenhouses, which proponents say could cut utility costs by half.

The structure would need a concrete floor and rigid steel sides that encloses the facility with all entry points secured, according the Department of Health. Additionally, the interior of the structure may not be visible from the outside.

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A Nonprofit Group Has Ranked Hawaii No. 6 for the State's Rate of Fatal Substance Use

We don't have nearly the extreme kind of heroin epidemic that you see on the mainland. ... What we most commonly see kids overdose with in Hawaii is still alcohol poisoning." Colleen Fox Director of adolescent programs, Hina Mauka

Hawaii has the sixth-lowest rate among the states of youth dying from drug overdoses, but the figure is trending upward across the country, according to a new report from the Trust for America's Health.

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Medical marijuana patients will not be allowed to sample their medicines before they buy when dispensaries open next year.

The state Health Department issued interim administrative rules Tuesday for the medical marijuana dispensary licensing program that require cannabis operators to grow their plants indoors and at least 750 feet away from schools and playgrounds. It also doesn't allow retail operators to hand out free samples or sell paraphernalia. The dispensaries will be highly regulated with unlimited unannounced inspections, the department said.

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A group composed of Hawaii farmers, a naturopath and a University of Hawaii bioengineering researcher is preparing to apply for a medical marijuana dispensary license in January.

The group, led by Dr. Ryan Ferchoff, founder of Medical Medicinals LLC, and Maui business consultant Steven Bronstein, issued a news release Tuesday announcing its intentions to vie for one of eight dispensary licenses next year.

Bronstein has represented some of Hawaii's largest medical groups, educators and local businesses for more than 15 years, and was the founder of Cushman & Wakefield's retail division, previously owned by the Rockefellers.

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During a talk radio debate last week, Tulsa's district attorney, Steve Kunzweiler, warned that civil forfeiture reform would invite "some of the most violent people in the history of this planet" to set up shop in Oklahoma, making decapitated bodies "hung from bridges" a familiar sight in the Sooner State.

Last month, Steve Jones, an assistant district attorney, told Tennessee legislators "criminals will thank you" for making it harder to confiscate people's property.

These are the noises that cops and prosecutors make when people talk about restricting their license to steal. A new report from the Institute for Justice, which gives the forfeiture laws of both Oklahoma and Tennessee a "D-", explains why legislators should ignore such self-interested fear mongering.

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Hawaii's Health Department is looking for a company to build an online system to track medical marijuana inventory and sales at dispensaries statewide in 2016.

The department's Office of Health Care Assurance, which regulates and licenses health care facilities, has issued a request for proposals for a computer software tracking system that will run 24 hours a day, according to Keith Ridley, who heads the office.

"This is another major step forward to implement the medical marijuana program to ensure access for Hawaii patients and caregivers," Ridley said in a news release.

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FBI Director James Comey says cops are reluctant to do their jobs because they worry that their actions will be captured on camera. Judging from the official response to the shooting of Zachary Hammond, they have little to fear.

Speaking at the University of Chicago Law School last month, Comey said police officers "in today's YouTube world" are afraid to get out of their cars, lest they face camera-wielding bystanders intent on recording them. He warned that good policing could "drift away from us in the age of viral videos" as cops refrain from confronting suspicious characters.

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Parents, if you haven't already done so, be sure to cull through the kids' Halloween bounty to check that all goodies are safe to eat.

That should be a routine every year - but this September, there have been reports here of high school students being sickened by candy containing THC, the active ingredient and toxicant in marijuana. The packaging was innocent-looking enough, with one "100% vegan and organic" fruit roll-up product bearing the label Shaka Organics Hawaii. Be warned that cannabis candies are being sold in the several states that have legalized recreational pot, and, of course, all over the Internet.

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Tainted Treats Send Several High-Schoolers to the Emergency Room

Manufactured cannabis-laced fruit candy that has sickened Oahu teens in recent weeks may be touching off anxiety among parents of trick-or-treaters this Halloween.

Several high school students wound up in Oahu hospital emergency rooms after ingesting candy with THC, the active ingredient and chief intoxicant in marijuana. The source was traced to packaged rolled-fruit candy, said Keith Kamita, state Narcotics Enforcement Division chief.

As part of Halloween-safety awareness, "we are educating the public there are candies and fruit roll-ups that they should be aware of," Kamita said. Candies containing THC - whether in chocolates and brownies or fruit roll-ups and hard candies - are illegal to distribute in Hawaii, he said.

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State police confiscated more than 6,700 marijuana plants on the Big Island during two recent eradication missions.

The Department of Public Safety Narcotics Enforcement Division had a mission Sept. 18-19 in East Hawaii, said Toni Schwartz, public information officer for the department. They found 6,000 plants, 90 percent of which were in one open-forest grow situation.

On Monday and Tuesday, the officers performed a similar mission on the west side of the Big Island. There, NED officers confiscated more than 700 plants, she said. Most were growing in residential areas.

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The state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs is reassuring banks and other financial institutions that they may open accounts for medical marijuana businesses in Hawaii when dispensaries start operations next year.

Iris Ikeda, DCCA's commissioner of financial institutions, issued a news release Monday after conducting a series of presentations for the heads of local banks, compliance officers and their attorneys to "address some of their concerns" if they are considering opening these high-risk accounts.

"The question has always been around whether or not banks can open marijuana-related accounts," she said. "(Federal regulators) want to make it clear that even though marijuana is still a Schedule 1 drug, if they take a risk-based approach, they can open an account. Currently banks are not willing to open the accounts."

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The state Department of Health is under heavy pressure to speed up the process that would allow medical marijuana patients to receive cannabis. The department has been criticized for its reluctance to issue temporary cards; DOH expressed worry that temporary cards could easily be forged.

The worry is understandable, given that marijuana is a hugely popular recreational drug, and is expected to become widely available through dispensaries beginning July 15. And DOH must fulfill its duty to ensure, as best it can, that the drug is dispensed properly.

Meanwhile, under revised rules of professional conduct, Hawaii lawyers will be permitted to counsel applicants seeking to open dispensaries, which is a welcome switch from the previous situation.

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