First up was DeVaughn Ward, MPP’s Senior Legislative Counsel, who started the conference by speaking about the importance of introducing successful legislation as soon as possible. “Marijuana prohibition has caused immeasurable harm to our communities, particularly communities of color,” said Ward. “Cannabis legalization is an opportunity to stop the harm to our residents and the waste of limited public safety resources.”

Next, Drug Policy Forum of Hawaii’s Nikos Leverenz described upcoming cannabis legislation as a “critical opportunity” for legislators to address the needs of those affected by the War on Drugs. “Hawaii’s cannabis policy should center the needs of those damaged by the continued criminalization of cannabis and draconian drug law enforcement,” said Leverenz. “At the same time, a properly regulated adult-use market will create many quality jobs and business opportunities across the state, including those related to cannabis tourism, craft cannabis, and cannabis science.”

He also noted that in his official statement to the press, he asked that if the red state of Missouri can legalize cannabis, what’s stopping Hawaii from moving forward. He explained that cannabis plants would thrive in Hawaii, especially if they brought in craft cannabis growers, the industry could contribute to a strong tourism sector for the state. “Hawaii has a rare opportunity this year to move forward and to protect public health and to create quality jobs and economic opportunity across the state, including our neighbor island communities,” he concluded.

George Cordero from ACLU Hawaii spoke on the inhumane conditions of confinement in overpopulated Hawaii prisons due to low-level cannabis convictions, and the long-term effects of having cannabis on a personal record. “Having a marijuana conviction on your record can make it extremely difficult to get employment, apply for a credit card, secure housing, for work the rest of your life,” Cordero said. “This is why clearing people’s marijuana convictions is a necessary condition to this legalization measure.”

Kapela took the stage. “We all know, and Hawaii’s people know, that it is high time to legalize recreational cannabis use for adults in Hawaii. This year we stand on the precipice of history,” she explained. “Following the recommendations of a task force devoted to addressing cannabis policy, we now have a roadmap for legalizing recreational cannabis in our islands,” Kapela said, referring to a report published by the Hawaii Department of Health cannabis task force in December 2022.

Kapela did not specify a timeline for when her bill would be proposed, but explained a few key points, including helping the state’s mass incarceration dilemma by issuing a mass expungement program. “Social equity. People. That is what forms the heart of our proposal,” she explained.

Previously in March 2021, the Hawaii Senate approved two cannabis reform bills that ultimately did not move forward.

Former Hawaii Gov. David Ige was not a stark supporter of cannabis legalization, and often stated his hesitancy because of its federally illegal status. However, he did allow a bill to be passed without his signature in January 2020, which decriminalized cannabis in the state.
However, newly elected Gov. Josh Green said in November 2022 that he would sign a legalization bill. “I think that people already have moved past that culturally as a concern,” Green said during a debate in October 2022. “But here’s what I would do. First of all, if marijuana is legalized, it should be very carefully monitored, and only done like cigarettes, or I’ve been very careful to regulate tobacco over the years. We should take the $30 to $40 million of taxes we would get from that and invest in the development and recreation of our mental healthcare system for the good of all.”

The post Hawaii Representative Announces Plan To Legalize Pot in 2023 appeared first on High Times.

At a meeting of Hawaii’s Dual Use of Cannabis Task Force on Monday, state Tax Director Isaac Choy reported tax revenue of $2.557 million on medical cannabis sales, corporate income tax and employee withholdings from July 1, 2021, through June 30, 2022. The agency also projected that tax revenue from legalizing recreational marijuana would be about $50 million.

State Representative Ryan Yamane, chair of the House Health, Human Serv­ices Committee, said on a livestreamed news program that the projected tax revenue would likely not be enough to pay for the regulatory costs associated with legalizing adult-use cannabis.

“There’s not much that $50 million can pay for,” Yamane said. “So there is not … this huge windfall that will be able to subsidize education or health services.”

The Democratic lawmaker said that the amount would make it difficult to fund the infrastructure required to provide oversight of a statewide recreational marijuana industry.

“That is difficult to use in order to establish a new program,” said Yamane. “Hire employees, do monitoring, do all the different aspects of adult recreational use, with $50 million annually.”

Cannabis Industry Disputes Projections

But representatives of Hawaii’s medical marijuana industry dispute the Tax Department’s projection that adult-use cannabis legalization would generate about $50 million in revenue for the state. Ty Cheng, chair of the Hawaii Industry Cannabis Association and president of the Aloha Green Apothecary dispensary, said that sales of recreational marijuana, and thus tax revenue generated, would likely be higher than state projections. 

Cheng disputed the department’s projections of gross annual recreational cannabis sales of $200 million to $273 million because it is not clear how much money tourists visiting the islands will spend on adult-use cannabis. He projected a more robust $400 million in recreational weed sales, similar to the amount of money spent on liquor in Hawaii each year. At that rate, taxes raised would likely total about $80 million.

Cheng says that there is a lot of room for growth for Hawaii’s cannabis industry. As of the end of September, there were 33,725 patients with valid medical marijuana cards, according to information from the state Department of Health. And with only eight medical marijuana dispensaries spread across the islands, each business has practical access to a small portion of the total number of patients.

“We’re really only catering to about 8,000, 9,000 patients,” said Cheng. “And those patient numbers have increased over the last three years, especially during the pandemic and we’ve seen revenue double from two years ago.”

Task Force Exploring Legalization in Hawaii

The Dual Use of Cannabis Task Force was created last year by the state legislature and current Democratic Governor David Ige, who opposes recreational cannabis legalization, to explore the issues surrounding further reform of Hawaii’s marijuana policy. The state’s lawmakers legalized the medicinal use of cannabis in 2000, making Hawaii the first state to legalize medical marijuana by action of the legislature rather than through the ballot box. Medical marijuana dispensaries, however, were not legalized until 2015.

Cheng said that he is hopeful that following next week’s general election, the administration of a new governor will herald new progress in cannabis legalization.

“I think there’s real positive mood right now when it comes to adult use cannabis with the recent pardoning by President Biden on federal drug charges,” said Cheng.

Terilynne Gorman, a task force member from Maui, said that if the aim of legalizing marijuana is to generate revenue, the taxes collected from medical marijuana and expected from adult-use cannabis will not live up to people’s expectations. She said that the projected tax revenue does not “seem like much of a windfall for the state of Hawaii. … This could not be the tax windfall that people are anticipating.”

Gorman added that if the goal is to generate tax revenue for public coffers, a state lottery could be “much more lucrative,” then noted, “I know we’re not here to discuss that.”

Yamane has told reporters that the task force is Hawaii’s best chance to legalize cannabis after years of failed attempts. He added the panel is still gathering information that will be reported back to the state legislature.

“There’s going to be a number of opportunities for the general public to chime in, testify for or against,” he said. “But what we wanted was to dispel some of the myths and find out what is fact.”

With voters in five states deciding on cannabis legalization in next week’s election, industry representatives in Hawaii hope that their state will not be far behind.

“We should all stay tuned, and we should be prepared for the public to provide input and comment,” said Randy Gonce, director of the Hawaii Cannabis Industry Association. “This is the closest Hawaii has ever been to legalizing cannabis in the history of our state.”

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When it comes to why people choose black market cannabis, one of the most common responses is high taxes. As the industry stands now, Hawaii’s cannabis market is worth about $240 million. With estimates that it could climb to $354 million upon recreational legalization.

That being said, this recent report claims such numbers are modest compared to the $8 billion a year of tax collections the state already sees. Therefore, beyond the fact that there’s no financial incentive to raise taxes, there may be a legal incentive to lower taxes.

Some responders to the report believe that, if legalized, Hawaii should avoid “burdensome levels of regulation and taxation” in order to overshadow the state’s illicit market.

Still, this black market issue likely goes beyond taxes. Currently, there are only 8 legal medical dispensaries across the state. All of which have struggled to turn a profit.

According to Randy Gonce, executive director of the Hawaii Cannabis Industry Association, only 3 of these dispensaries are breaking even. And none of them are paying a return on investors.

Gonce continued: “On paper, they’re not successful businesses. You’re working on a very limited consumer base with heavy, heavy regulations. Your tax is really, really high, you can’t write your taxes off… at the federal level – it’s just a hard industry to be in.”

So, what can be done to get more people to turn to the state’s medical program?

Breaking Down Hawaii’s Medical Cannabis Program

While medical cannabis has been legal in Hawaii since 2000, it hasn’t progressed significantly in the last two decades.

One of the biggest issues is its list of qualifying conditions is extremely limited, with only 15 ailments acceptable for a prescription. Even still, the severity of these conditions plays a major role in whether or not a doctor will even recommend marijuana as a remedy.

However, an even bigger issue is the lack of access to cannabis. Currently, Hawaii has just under 35,000 registered medical patients. As mentioned, all those patients are limited to the eight dispensaries across the state which are limited to specific islands. In turn, medical patients on Lanai or Molokai have no direct access to medical cannabis.

The cherry on top of these issues is the 4.5% General Excise Tax (GET) attached to all marijuana products. Admittedly, this number is lower in other parts of the country. For example, in California, there’s a 15% excise tax on all retail cannabis products.

But since access to business licensing in California is more attainable, we’ve seen more farms growing products. In turn, this has driven down prices—allowing for an overall more affordable product for consumers.

In Hawaii, on the other hand, cultivation licenses start at a $75,000 fee—with a $50,000 renewal fee every year. Since the market has been around for some time and it’s obvious that there’s little profit within the industry, it’s a no-brainer not to invest in such ridiculous fees.

With Lack of Production, Hawaiians are Importing Cannabis

So, how do you circumvent the problems of Hawaii’s medical industry?

An easy answer would be recreational legalization in order to broaden the consumer base. However, this may prove more difficult than it seems. For one, Hawaiian voters are split nearly 50/50 on the issue. Secondly, outgoing Gov. David Ige opposes recreational use, keeping lawmakers away from the topic over the last few years.

The upcoming midterms will play a significant role in how this issue is tackled in the next few years. With nominees Lt. Gov. Josh Green (D) supporting recreational legalization and Lt. Gov. James “Duke” Aiona (R) opposing it.

Still, even if legalized, chances are Hawaii’s market will continue to struggle. And this is simply due to the fact that the state’s industry is lacking in terms of production. In fact, most of the cannabis in Hawaii isn’t even grown within the state—it’s being shipped in from California.

With that said, it may be impossible for Hawaii to tackle the problem of the illicit market as the source of this issue is thousands of miles across the Pacific.

As a task force report states: “Illicit California cannabis is cheap and of relatively good quality. This market dynamic will not go away even if Hawaii opts to legalize adult use.”

In order to combat the issue immediately, Hawaii’s law enforcement has become more aggressive in prosecuting illegal operations. But even such aggressiveness hasn’t been able to stop growth. As the task force reported, the illicit market has gotten so large that the state’s already a part of the national cannabis market.

So, What Can Be Done Within Hawaii?

Ultimately, in order to start coming down on the black market, Hawaii needs to produce a more equitable legal market. As mentioned, the price of entry into the industry is ridiculously expensive—with capital investors even weary of such large financial incentives due to the lack of demand.

As Gonce says: “What we want to do is a very low barrier to entry, but still with certain things to keep the integrity of the business.” He furthered this by saying that groups should be monitored, cash flow should be tracked, and the government should be testing products for purity and potency.

However, these changes should only be implemented if they’re reducing prices for consumers. As of now, legal Hawaiian cannabis is 40% to 100% higher than that of the illegal market. To give an example, an ounce in a dispensary costs around $350 whereas the price drops to $250 in the illicit market.

In order to lower prices, production within the state needs to increase. And in order for an increase in production, the state desperately needs to make the market more accessible to newcomers.

As the report indicates: “issues related to the market structure and regulation result in high prices that are uncompetitive relative to the gray [illicit] market. Laws and regulations that limit scale, market size, competition, and specialization create an unfavorable market structure.”

The post In Hawaii, People Prefer Black Market Cannabis to State-Managed Facilities appeared first on High Times.

Senate Bill 767, which would legalize and regulate recreational cannabis, passed the Senate at a 20 to 5 margin. If it becomes law, individuals 21 years of age and older will be able to purchase and possess one ounce of cannabis and grow up to six plants for personal use. 

Hawaii is already somewhat decriminalized, as 2019 laws reduced the criminal penalties for cannabis possession, but only up to three grams. Currently, instead of serving time in jail or paying a hefty fee and getting a strike against a permanent record, those who possess three grams of cannabis or less get a non-criminal violation and a $130 fine. 

The other bill being considered, Senate Bill 785, passed 24 to 1. It would increase decriminalization from three grams to 30 grams and help expunge past cannabis cases. While it wouldn’t set up a recreational industry, it would make sure that the war on drugs ceases when it comes to cannabis.

Will The Bills Make It To The Governor’s Desk?

However, while passing the Senate was a big deal, some are fearful that these bills won’t make it through the House, as elected officials there lean more conservatively. There are rumors that a key house committee member won’t hear the measure at all. 

“On legalization, I really think we need to get the medical marijuana program up and running in a much more healthy way before we’re ready for any kind of legalization,” House Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs Committee Chairman Mark Nakashima said regarding the upcoming bills. “I really think the dispensaries really need to be given a chance to really perform.” 

Additionally, if the bills do clear the House, there is no guarantee that Governor David Ige will sign them. While he is a Democrat, he didn’t officially sign the decriminalization laws he allowed, and he has expressed concerns about adult use legalization, at least as long as things aren’t federally legal. 

“I’d have to look at it. I do have concerns. Marijuana is still a Schedule I substance, which is highly regulated by the federal government,” Ige said regarding the concept of adult use legalization. “Until that is changed, it is confusing for the public to think that it’s legalized here but, if they were to carry it beyond certain quantities, they could actually end up getting prosecuted and sent to prison for a very long time.”

If the bills do pass, the regulation of Hawaiian cannabis would look similar to their existing medical program. Licenses for grows and dispensaries would be handled through the Department of Taxation for the state, who would then collect revenue. The industry would likely start out largely cash-only because of limited access to banking businesses.

There is still a chance this bill could die on the vine, but it has already made it further than recreational legislation has gone previously in the state of Hawaii.

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“Passage of HB 2097 is a victory for the state’s 30,798 registered medical cannabis patients,” Randy Gonce, Hawai’i Cannabis Industry Association program director, said in a press release regarding the new bill. “Coronavirus has prompted more patients to seek ingestible forms of cannabis to replace inhalation due to concerns about lung health, so the approval of edibles is welcome news. Hawaii will now join 34 of 35 legal cannabis states that allow for remediation of cannabis plant material for biotic reasons, under specific conditions, as allowed by the DOH.” 

A Case For Edibles And Education

When the state first legalized, edibles weren’t included in the list of what dispensaries could offer to their new patients. Legislators were concerned that they would appeal too much to children and encourage early-age consumption. However, ingesting cannabis specifically is a preferred style of medication for a lot of patients, as it provides holistic effects and doesn’t involve smoking or other harmful ways of consuming. And, in light of all the economic struggles caused by COVID-19, a new avenue for product sales is definitely welcome. 

“We were hopeful that the bill would pass, but there were serious doubts that it would get through this year considering the circumstances,” said Diana Hahn, communications director for Hawaiian Ethos, a Hawaiin dispensary that has made it through the COVID-19 pandemic. The dispensary will start offering edible and drinkable products as long as this bill gets signed into law. 

“The timeline for edible products to roll out under this new legislation is still undetermined … since the bill that is now in front of the governor grants the DOH the ability to create rules around edible products,” Hahn said. “Until those rules are released by the DOH, dispensaries will not be allowed to sell edibles. So many of our patients have requested edibles,” she continued. “It’s great that the Legislature heard this request from constituents and delivered. On the mainland, edibles represent a significant and growing amount of revenue for dispensaries, and we believe this will be true in Hawai‘i as well.” 

In addition to changing the game for edibles, this bill will also allow publicity for educational and scientific events surrounding cannabis, which previously have been limited, and will remediate the use of flower in certain cases as well, all important steps for the industry.  

Hawaii still has a way to go before they are on par with other medical states, and certainly with fully, recreationally legal ones, but many patients in the state would be happy to have access to edibles as a source of medicine available in dispensaries across the state.

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According to the wording of the bill, employers in Hawaii could lose monetary or licensing benefits if they fail to protect employees who use medical cannabis. Discrimination against patients when hiring, firing, or making any changes to employment would be prohibited. Discrimination will not be allowed against medical cannabis card holders or those who test positive for medical cannabis and are legally allowed to take it. The one exception will be for “potentially dangerous occupations,” which at this time are not clearly defined in the bill. 

However, it does list certain professions that will be exempt from this, sticking with a no-cannabis policy. That includes law enforcement officers, firefighters, water safety officers, those who have to carry firearms for work, emergency personnel, anyone who works with controlled substances in the healthcare field, anyone who works with vulnerable populations such as children and the elderly, civil defense personnel, and those with certain types of vehicle licenses. Additionally, those who work with public power grids and public utilities will not be able to use medical cannabis. 

“Medical cannabis patients face significant stigma due to longstanding misperceptions regarding cannabis and its uses, fueled by a longstanding, costly ‘war on drugs’ that is disproportionately waged against those impacted by social determinants of health,” officials with the Drug Policy Forum of Hawaii said in a written testimony released when the bill was first introduced. 

As this bill is considered, cannabis patients remain optimistic that medical cannabis will become a protected category. Currently, while medical patients can access the relief they need, they can also be fired from their place of employment for failing a drug test or even just for having a medical card. Hopefully, Hawaii will join the list of states that want to provide more protections for legal, medical cannabis consumers. 

The post Hawaii Legislature Considers Protecting Employees Who Use Medical Cannabis appeared first on High Times.

What’s In Store?

I recently had the pleasure of visiting Hawaii’s Big Island for the first time. My friend James Rushing, CEO of the cannabis-consulting firm White Coat Services, had arranged for me to tour the cultivation facilities of Big Island Grown, locally known as B.I.G. Formerly called Lau Ola, Big Island Grown is a locally owned and operated, vertically integrated company with three medical-marijuana retail locations on the Big Island—Hilo, Waimea and Kona. The Hilo location opened in January as the first cannabis dispensary on the Big Island, and perhaps the only dispensary in the world located on an active volcano.

My trip started with a tour of the Hilo shop, which has a comfortable lobby and waiting area designed with local hardwood and iPads for advance pre-ordering of medicine for those with valid state medical-marijuana cards only. Dr. Jaclyn Moore, Big Island Grown’s CEO, explained that her company wants patients to “understand how their medicine is grown and manufactured… We’re farm-to-patient in our approach to patient education.”

Big Island Grown’s pricing is purposefully affordable, with $30 eighths and $200 ounces available—practically half the price found at other Hawaii dispensaries. The company aims to provide reasonably priced, high-quality medicine with a diversity of options, lab-tested for pesticides, bacteria, mycotoxins, heavy metals and residual solvents, with cannabinoids and terpenes plainly listed at the shops. (There’s even a terpene wheel at the dispensaries that allows patients to enter the feeling and the flavor they desire which then offers product recommendations.)

According to Dr. Moore, when Big Island Grown was awarded one of only eight licenses in the state, it was seen as a responsibility to execute the state’s vision and to serve patients. “We spent every dollar necessary to build a top-notch, medically focused facility,” she said, “because it is truly about providing patients with clean, quality medicine.” While some other dispensaries don’t support home growing, Dr. Moore said that at Big Island Grown, “We support the patients’ right to grow their own if they choose. We want to eventually be able to sell them clones and seeds, which is currently not allowable.”

Hawaiian medical-marijuana legal requirements are very strict with compliance testing, so producers have to have total control over the grow climate to avoid pests. Big Island Grown founder and COO Dylan Shropshire, a fifth-generation farmer on Hawaii, understands the difficulties of cultivating on the Hamakua Coast, but specifically chose it to be his home because of the need for job opportunities since the shutdown of local sugarcane plantations.

“Cultivating cannabis on the windward side of the Big Island of Hawaii, from an integrated pest management prospective, is one of the most difficult places in the world to produce microbe-free, clean, safe cannabis, without the use of pesticides or inoculants,” explains James Rushing, a plant and soil biologist. “Most mainland environments experience periods of reduced pathogen occurrence due to changes in the annual climate. Here in Pepeekeo, we experience regular temperatures of 82°F (28°C) with an average 127 inches of rain a year. The pathogen pressures are immense in this area,” he explains.

After a delicious lunch at the Vibe Cafe next door to the dispensary, Shropshire, Rushing and I headed to the town of Pepeekeo on the Hamakua Coast to tour Big Island Grown’s cultivation center.

Mountain High

We drove up the lower hills of Mauna Kea (the tallest mountain in the world, as measured from the ocean floor) on the east side of the island, near Hilo, to the 35,000-square-foot facility. The building was purpose-built, meaning it was specifically designed for growing cannabis in the Hawaiian climate, effectively mitigating potential environmental and biological pressures. It sits on a former 600-acre banana farm that was once surrounded by sugarcane fields, and it makes great use of hydroelectric generation from spring-fed river flumes that were originally built to get sugarcane down from the mountains to the shore.

Repurposed to generate energy for the cooling rooms that ripened the fruits, the hydroelectric system now helps power the massive indoor pot farm. There’s also a 250-kilowatt biodiesel generator and a solar farm in the permitting stages. Cows and bulls graze around the perimeter to keep back the fast-growing jungle and as an added security layer.

Fresh Air

When I visited, Big Island Grown was utilizing 17,500 square feet of the facility, in which 32 strains were growing in three 2,000-square-foot flowering rooms. With ambient humidity in the area typically around 90 percent, the crew has to use cutting-edge clean-room technology to ensure a pest and pathogen-free environment.

“The key to this level of environmental mastery is positive air pressure,” Shropshire explained. “The flowering rooms are positioned in the center of the building, and all incoming external air is pumped through a HEPA filter into a thermal buffer zone that steps down the temperature [and] provides cooling and dehumidification to the air. That air is then pushed into the tightly sealed rooms at very low CFU [colony-forming unit, a measurement of biological non-contamination], providing a resistance against any airborne pathogens or incoming insects.”

In fact, the doors popped open quite strongly due to the internal pressure, so care had to be taken when entering and exiting the rooms. Multiple Quest dehumidifiers, ultrasonic humidifiers, and three-ton LG split AC units are placed throughout the growing rooms for redundancy. All of the equipment is connected through a series of sensors that monitor CO2, temperature, pH, humidity, and power. A Growtronix computer “brain” system makes real time adjustment from sensor readings to ensure that the vapor-pressure deficit is dialed in at all times throughout the different stages of cultivation.

Clean Water

Shropshire and his team continued showing me some of the technology deployed to ensure successful harvests under strict conditions. With a multiple pound-per-light average yield, Big Island Grown is producing large amounts of medicinal-quality cannabis while dealing with some intense constraints and restrictions.

The farmers at Big Island Grown start with a reverse-osmosis treatment of spring water from a source located on the farm and grow solely in coco coir with some perlite mixed in. They use a proprietary blend of organically derived food-grade liquid nutrients with a Hanna fertigation system utilizing drip irrigation with two emitters per pot for redundancy.

Lighting consists of Dimlux double-ended high-pressure sodium (HPS) rigs with checkerboard double-ended ceramic metal halides (CMH) on Dimlux Maxi controllers. Rotators raise and lower the lights easily.

Plants go from cuttings to the flowering stage in just four weeks. After they’re cloned, they go right into six-inch pots in a high-humidity environment. The pots have their bottoms cut out to avoid transplant shock in the next stage. Once rooted and vegged for three weeks, the plants are placed directly into 1.76-gallon flowering pots and start the budding stage.

Healthy Harvest

Plants are hung whole with just the fan leaves stripped in 50-60 percent humidity for seven to ten days. After that, the flowers are bucked (removed from the main stem) and put into containers for two weeks to cure at a 12-13 percent moisture level. Only then are they hand-trimmed by a professional crew and stored in a climate-controlled area for freshness.

One of Big Island Crown’s signature strains is its Hamakua Banana OG. The strain has acclimated to the islands and reeks of fresh dank bananas, which is quite ironic considering this was once home to the largest banana farm in the United States. The company also grows some Hawaiian varieties including the Big Island cut of White Widow, Maui Girl and Skunk Dog.

Another local favorite that Big Island Grown produces is Dutch Treat, a big yielder known on the islands as just Dutch. The company is also running Humboldt Seeds, CSI and Karma Genetics strains such as Josh D OG, Green Crack and Mendocino Purple Urkle. CBD-rich strains include CBD Critical Cure, a local Hawaii-acclimated cut of Cannatonic, and the in-house 20:1 CBD strain called Mauka Berry. The company plans to roll out over 75 unique phenotypes in the next year.

Entering another wing of the facility, we met Dr. Craig Pollard, who leads Big Island Crown’s manufacturing division. The company produces its own concentrates, including distillate and solventless cartridges, pharmacist-compounded infused topicals, CBD-rich tinctures and some fantastic-looking rosin. Extract artists in the in-house laboratory fresh-freeze harvested flowers, then freeze-dry the ice-water-extracted material that is then pressed into solventless live rosin. Patients can also purchase full-extract cannabis oil in syringes for the potent oral administration of activated THC.

Recently, the law was revised to allow visitors to Hawaii to take part in its medical-marijuana program. Out-of-state patients can purchase medical cannabis by applying for a medical card that is valid for 60 days—so you can now enjoy a trip to paradise and legally acquire and consume lab-tested and sustainably grown cannabis from Big Island Grown.

Check out bigislandgrown.co for more information, to view their medical marijuana menu, and for links to applications for 60-day 329V cards for visitors to Hawaii from medical states.

Originally published in the October, 2019 issue of High Times magazine. Subscribe right here.

The post Hawaii’s Big Island Grown appeared first on High Times.

Under the measure, House Bill 1383, possession of up to three grams of cannabis will no longer be subject to punishment with time in jail but would instead carry a fine of up to $130. Currently, possession of any amount of cannabis in Hawaii is punishable with up to 30 days behind bars and a fine of up to $1,000. The new law is scheduled to go into effect on January 11, 2020.

Bill Becomes Law Without Governor’s Support

The bill was passed by the Hawaii legislature in May of this year but did not have the support of the state’s governor, Democrat David Ige. At a press conference in June, Ige said that deciding to sign or veto the bill would be a “very tough call.” He eventually did neither, and the bill became law when a deadline to act on the legislation expired on Tuesday.

The governor explained that he believes that the bill could lead to further legislative efforts to decriminalize cannabis “and other mechanisms to make marijuana more available.”

Ige said that he eventually decided to let the bill become law without his signature because of the quantity of cannabis involved. Hawaii’s limit on the amount of cannabis that can be possessed without incurring criminal penalties is the smallest of all 26 states that have legalized or decriminalized marijuana so far.

“The amount is very small, when you talk with law enforcement personnel,” Ige said. “Essentially they will proceed the way they always have.”

House Bill 1383 also allows for the expungement of prior criminal convictions for possession of less than three grams of marijuana and establishes a task force to further explore the reform of the state’s penalties and outcomes for marijuana use.

Legalization Bill Fails

Without a process for voter ballot initiatives in the state, any attempts to legalize cannabis in Hawaii must be passed by the legislature. In March, a bill that would have allowed adults 21 and older to legally possess, cultivate, and use marijuana was passed unanimously by Hawaii’s Senate Judiciary Committee. But the bill was killed when the Senate Health Committee failed to act on the measure before a legislative deadline.

Lawmakers in Hawaii legalized the use of cannabis for medicinal purposes in 2000, but medical marijuana dispensaries did not open in the state until 2017.

The post Hawaii Officially Decriminalizes Small Quantities of Cannabis appeared first on High Times.

Hawaii’s House Bill 1383

The bill currently working its way through the legislative process is House Bill 1383. Simply put, this bill aims to decriminalize the possession of cannabis throughout the state.

Under the terms of the bill, it would no longer be a criminal offense to possess three grams or less of marijuana. Instead, people busted with weed would only be fined $130.

Importantly, the bill also takes into consideration people who already carry a marijuana-related charge on their records. Specifically, it provides a way for people in this situation to have their records expunged if the charge was not related to any other crimes.

So far, House Bill 1383 has found success among lawmakers. In particular, it cleared the Senate with unanimous approval.

But things were a little different in the House, where the bill reportedly had many more opponents.

In particular, some lawmakers expressed concern that the decriminalization bill did not have any provisions that would require minors caught with weed to attend rehabilitation or educational programs.

Similarly, opponents of House Bill 1383 also claimed that the bill should make distinctions according to strain and potency.

In the end, the bill ended up clearing the House, although by a much tighter margin of 34-16.

Now, after being approved by both the Senate and the House, the bill is being handed off to Hawaii Governor David Ige for final review and approval. If he signs the bill it will officially become Hawaii state law.

Cannabis Laws in Hawaii

The bill is largely being hailed as a step forward toward more progressive cannabis laws.

In particular, many see decriminalization as an effective way to significantly reduce some of the harm caused by cannabis prohibition laws.

However, full legalization has so far failed to pick up serious traction among lawmakers. As reported by Honolulu Civil Beat, legalization efforts stalled and died earlier this year in the Legislature.

But the state’s medical marijuana program has seen some significant growth in recent years.

The state first began taking applications for medical marijuana dispensaries in 2016. Immediately, the program received a lot of attention from people hoping to open a dispensary. Notably, even celebrities like Woody Harrelson applied for a license.

After reviewing applications and issuing licenses, Hawaii allowed dispensaries to open for business in 2017.

At that point, Hawaii’s medical marijuana program received broad enthusiasm from patients. In fact, the first dispensary to officially open its doors sold out in a single week.

Most recently, officials in Hawaii decided to open medical marijuana to out-of-state visitors.

As originally planned, this amendment to the state’s program would allow visitors with a qualifying health condition to apply for a special temporary registration card. This would then allow them to access and purchase from medical marijuana dispensaries.

With well over 8 million visitors spending time in Hawaii every year, this decision could have big implications for the state’s medical marijuana program.

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Pot in Paradise

Nobody knows when marijuana first appeared in Hawaii, but the remote islands have been inextricably linked to the legend of the pakalolo, or numbing leaf, for centuries. The combination of rich volcanic soil, plentiful sunshine, tropical breezes and abundant rainfall proved irresistible to resourceful locals looking to produce their own tropical cannabis. Guerrilla weed growers thrived in their camouflaged hilltop plots, growing cannabis crops year-round for the insatiable appetites of the laid-back island populace.

Over time, strains brought to the islands from across the oceans adapted and acclimated to Hawaii’s unique environment and were passed down from generation to generation. These exotic varieties, such as Kona Gold, Puna Budder and, of course, the legendary Maui Wowie, inspired generations of surfers and hippies looking for the signature “electric” buzz. Old-timers still rave about the uplifting aspects of these sativa-dominant strains, eagerly reminiscing about their mildly hallucinogenic high with no “ceiling”—a toker could keep puffing and puffing and yet still reach new heights of blissful euphoria.

Recent research has found that these varieties are especially rich in THCV, dubbed the “sports car of cannabinoids” by Steep Hill Labs, due to the quick onset and relatively short duration of psychoactive effects. Strains with higher levels of THC come on quite strong and can induce panic and anxiety in some users if they aren’t careful. Some patients also report that THCV works as an appetite suppressant, which, if true, imparts this compound with tremendous potential from a pharmaceutical perspective.

Hawaiian Punch

Hawaii’s marijuana history, however, took a turn for the worse in the 1980s with Operation Green Harvest, a decades-long campaign that saw federal, state and local law-enforcement agencies using assault helicopters, masked officers with AK-47s and more in an attempt to eradicate domestic cannabis cultivation and lock up farmers. This aggressive effort devastated the islands’ cultivation community as well as pot consumers, and many say the misguided fiasco helped lead to an epidemic of hard-drug use and a methamphetamine crisis that continues to this day. The dark days for Hawaiian dankness would continue for years until the voters finally decided to make a change.

Although Hawaii legalized medical marijuana for qualified patients and caregivers in 2000, it wasn’t until almost 20 years later, in 2016, that the state finalized the rules governing its dispensary program. These new regulations require eight state-licensed dispensaries to grow, manufacture and sell their own products to eligible patients with a valid state registration card. The one I’m visiting, Aloha Green Apothecary, opened in 2016 with a traditional Hawaiian blessing ceremony in downtown Honolulu on the beautiful island of Oahu. Everything it sells must be lab-tested for cannabinoid profile, pesticides, mycotoxins, heavy metals, moisture content, microbial impurities and solvents (when applicable).

The strict guidelines also require an FBI background check for all employees or visitors, which means that for the first time in my cannabis-cultivation reporting career, I have to apply for permission from the government to visit a legal grow. As Aloha Green’s director, Helen Cho, assists me through the process, I joke about how the times have changed: When I first started covering clandestine indoor pot farms for High Times almost 20 years ago, I sometimes had to ride in the trunk of a car or wear a blindfold. Now I was politely asking the feds to allow me to pay a visit to a licensed facility!

Aloha Grows Green

Aloha Green Apothecary produces its flowers and extracts on the island of Oahu on land that was formerly part of the massive Dole Plantation. I drove out to meet this dedicated team of locals to find out more about their commitment to creating quality medicine using locally sourced materials. Upon approach, the tropical landscape gave way to a well-protected seven-acre plot surrounded by ample security fencing and cameras. The rich, dark-red volcanic soil and bright sunshine reveal this as a place where agriculture has thrived for ages and will continue to do so.

My tour begins with Aloha Green’s head grower, Daniel Richardson, excitedly explaining his philosophy for growing artisanal cannabis for the community of patients in Hawaii. The goal is to tread lightly, making use of as much local material as possible while taking advantage of the natural environment by using greenhouses to grow some of Aloha Green’s flowers. By reusing whatever they can, the Aloha team strives to treat the community and their patients with the respect they deserve.

In fact, Aloha Green is the first state licensee to use several greenhouses to grow its flowers, which has cut the cost of production by a third—all the more important as Hawaii has the most expensive electricity in the United States. The company also has plans to convert to solar for much of its power usage in the future as well. Aloha’s growers are even experimenting with cover crops such as clover to provide nitrogen while also acting as a mulch to conserve water potentially lost to evaporation. Wood chips on top of the growing medium acts as insulation from water loss as well.

Moms and Clones

Mother plants at Aloha Green are nurtured under fluorescent and HID (high-intensity discharge) lighting and hand-fed with a nutrient solution to keep them thriving. Mother-plant vegging rooms are climate-controlled with fans, ensuring that air is circulating and not stagnant. The moms are grown in large containers so that their roots can find plenty of space and expand. This ensures that the plant up top stays healthy and continues to create new growing shoots from which to take and root clones.

Clones root in plugs in meticulously labeled plastic trays with clear lids under fluorescent lighting tubes to maintain heat and humidity for ultimate rooting success. They’re cut from healthy mother plants, dipped into rooting-hormone gel and then gently secured into their individual rooting cubes. The larger fan leaves are then trimmed down to alleviate the pressure on the cutting to maintain life. Once they’re showing healthy white roots from the bottom of their plugs, they’re ready to plant into larger pots filled with premixed growing medium and move into the vegetative stage of growth. Lower branches and leaf growth are removed to increase airflow beneath the canopy to avoid possible humidity buildup.

Light, Soil and Water

In all, there are four indoor flowering rooms and four greenhouse sections at Aloha Green for a total of eight separate growing chambers. The indoor plants are grown under Gavita double-ended HPS (high-pressure sodium) 1,000-watt lights on a staggered flowering schedule and harvested every two weeks. Plants in the greenhouses are supplemented with lighting as well when sunlight isn’t sufficient.

For the growing medium, the team at Aloha Green make their own “supersoil” mix. It’s a combination of rich local soil plus compost from a nearby school. Because of the many microclimates on Oahu, the soil Aloha Green uses is unique and diverse with 10 of 12 soil varieties on the island represented. Volcanic pumice is added instead of perlite to loosen up the soil. This airy loam is then amended with local Hawaiian chicken manure, worm castings, fish waste, and seaweed. The company has even experimented with turning macadamia-nut shells into biochar.

Aloha Green’s goal is to use no added nutrients, and it utilizes drip emitters to provide mostly plain water directly to the root zone. Local mulch from the wood of the monkeypod tree keeps the soil surface cool and reduces water waste from evaporation. Ideally, Aloha Green will reuse its soil over and over in a closed-loop system that improves the growing medium with each growing cycle. Each plant is tagged from seed to harvest with its strain name and germination date, and wooden stakes are used to hold up branches that become weighed down with heavy flowers.

The water itself comes from a 1,000-foot-deep well tapped on the premises. The water is filtered naturally through lava rock and comes out with very low levels of any minerals or contaminants. Multiple drippers in each growing container also provide redundancy in case of a clogged tube or emitter. Wet walls and swamp coolers reduce heat in the greenhouses on really hot days and desiccant-based dehumidifiers remove moisture in the air when necessary. Plants sit on trays that allow airflow underneath the canopy to reduce the probability of mold or mildew collecting in moist air pockets. Excess water and nutrient solution easily drain out of the bottom of the containers to prevent the pots from sitting in stagnant liquid.

Insect Controls

Chief operating officer Tai Cheng and director of integrated strategy Helen Cho explain the strict governmental regulations to me, which include requirements to grow all plants indoors, lab-testing all of the products and using only state-approved pesticides on the crops. In fact, as Cheng tells me, “We can’t have testing show more than 1 ppm [part per million] in the finished product of any banned pesticides, which is essentially the same as none. We’re also not allowed to use beneficial bugs because they are not available in abundance on the island. Strict [agricultural] controls don’t allow for them to be delivered. So we have the strict pesticide regime of Oregon without the help of beneficials.”

Aloha Green growers use beans as indicator, or trap, plants, and rosemary and other deterrent plants to repel insects as well. Workers and visitors alike wear full-body protective suits including booties and hoods to avoid any potential contamination, and yellow sticky pest strips are everywhere in order to get an early warning as to any potential pest invasions. A strict integrated pest-management system ensures that the flowers and concentrates produced here are clean and pass their tests with flying colors.

Faded Flush

As the plants at Aloha Green approach maturity, they’re aggressively flushed with plain pH-balanced water. Head grower Daniel Richardson emphasizes the importance of a proper flush in order to produce flowers that can be considered proper medicine for patients. He insists that whether Aloha Green’s end product is used for flowers, concentrates, edibles or tinctures, it’s clean and free of excess chlorophyll and nutrient-salt buildup.

As I walk around the growing chamber next to be harvested, I can see the fall colors of the fan leaves on display. These fading hues are a sure sign of a successful flush, and the end result will be buds that burn cleanly to a wispy white ash—perfect for connoisseurs and patients alike. The properly flushed plants are now in the final stretch, during which their trichome gland heads will swell with essential oils in preparation for harvest.

Hawaiian Harvest

When the time to take down a roomful of vegetation has been determined, the plants are pre-trimmed while still alive. Large fan leaves are removed by hand from each plant in preparation for the drying process. Then branches are individually hung to dry in rooms environmentally controlled by Argus climate systems. Sensors maintain specific temperature and humidity while UV light kills off any potential pests or mold spores, and Airocide filters purify the air.

The indoor harvests are all hand-trimmed dry prior to curing, while the yield from the greenhouses is machine-trimmed using industrial Twister units and then dried on individual racks. Trim and leaf leftovers are set aside for ethanol extraction to make RSO (Rick Simpson Oil) for oral ingestion. The company also produces oil, shatter, rosin wax, balms and tinctures, so there’s something for every patient on the shelves of Aloha Green Apothecary.

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