On Tuesday, two key medical marijuana bills were signed into law by Hawaii Gov. David Ige. While we already knew the bills would not be vetoed, we are thrilled the governor decided to personally support these compassionate proposals by signing them into law instead of allowing them to become law without his signature. [caption id="attachment_8993" align="alignright" width="200"] Gov. David Ige[/caption] One of the bills, HB 321, creates a medical marijuana dispensary system. The law allows, initially,…

On Monday, June 29, Hawaii Gov. David Ige released his list of bills that he intends to veto. Thankfully, legislation creating a medical marijuana distribution program was not on this list, meaning HB 321 will become law with or without Gov. Ige’s signature! HB 321 builds on Hawaii’s medical marijuana program, which was approved by the legislature back in 2000. Since that time, most state medical marijuana programs have either been written to include a regulated system for patients to obtain their…

The Hawaiian legislative conference committee working out the differences in medical marijuana dispensary programs proposed by the House and Senate has come to an agreement. HB 321 will initially allow eight dispensaries (three on Oahu, two each on Big Island and Maui, and one on Kauai). Starting in 2017, the state health department will be allowed to issue more licenses as needed. Each dispensary license will allow the holder to have two cultivation sites with up to 3,000 plants each as well as…