Hawaii has disclosed it will permit medical cannabis dispensaries to start growing as early as February 1, following many months of setbacks. One of the delays has been the state not having a federally required software system to track the product from seed to sale. However, the Hawaii Department of Health recently said it is now ready to go online with its tracking system.
The state Legislature legalized medical marijuana dispensaries in 2015 and awarded eight licences for the businesses statewide in 2016. The dispensaries were initially anticipated to begin sales in July. Health officials said four licensees , Manoa Botanicals and Aloha Green on Oahu and Maui’s Pono Life Sciences and Maui Grown Therapies, have indicated they are ready to begin growing. It can take between three and five months for plants to mature.
Founder and CEO of Manoa Botanicals, Brian Goldstein, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that his company anticipates to start cultivation soon but isn’t sure when it will open for business. He stated, “It is exciting, but there’s some critical milestones ahead of us. We’re not going to be able to sell until a lab is certified, and there is uncertainty as to when that’s going to happen.”
Teri Gorman of Maui Grown Therapies said her dispensary’s production facility requires one more inspection from the state before it receives approval to cultivate marijuana. He said, “We are certainly happy and relieved that we’ve gotten to this point. Certainly, cultivation is a major step and we’re very thankful for that, but that doesn’t mean that it’s over.”
The DOH says it is going over two applications from testing labs seeking to open on Oahu and Maui. The department also expects the integration of the seed-to-sale tracking system with the patient registry will take two to three months. There were over 15,000 medical cannabis patients registered with the state at the end of 2016, with more than 40 percent of them on the Big Island.
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