Hawaii’s eight medical marijuana dispensary licensees have been hustling to get operations up and running, but the state has yet to finalize a contract for a tracking system required to monitor production and sales.
Three months after the legal opening date for the state’s first dispensaries, state Health Department officials told a legislative oversight committee Wednesday that they are working to finalize an agreement for a “seed-to-sale” tracking system needed before dispensaries can start growing or selling cannabis. The system follows plants as they are grown, processed and sold to make sure no marijuana is used illegally.
Since August, at least one dispensary has been ready to start cultivating plants and hoped to begin sales by year’s end — now an unlikely prospect.
Maui Wellness Group, which has hired about a dozen employees and has leased agriculture land and a retail facility, hoped to get the green light to become the first operational dispensary this year with sales in early 2017. But cultivation takes at least three to four months.
“We’re ready to cultivate, but we’re just waiting for approvals from the DOH to begin. I know they’re working hard to get the seed-to-sale system online, but our company’s done everything that we’re required to do to grow,” said Teri Freitas Gorman, spokeswoman for Maui Wellness Group, doing business as Maui Grown Therapies. “Frustrating would be one way of describing it. It’s difficult because obviously we do have … inquiries from people who would like to start using it — people who’ve been recently diagnosed with cancer. It’s hard not to be able to give them a date.”
In December, the state selected Florida software vendor BioTrackTHC to install the seed-to-sale system but hasn’t agreed on a contract with the company.
Health Department officials couldn’t give a timeframe Wednesday for when the seed-to-sale system would be installed or when the dispensaries would be allowed to start cultivation.
“We’re working as quickly as we can to get things underway. At the same time the staff is really careful because they’re really focused on the patient safety aspect,” said DOH spokeswoman Janice Okubo. “It is a huge responsibility and it’s not something we’re going to take lightly or rush through.”
Teri Heede, who has used cannabis for her multiple sclerosis since 2000, when Hawaii first legalized medical marijuana, is not happy with the delay.
“This is just like incompetence at this point. This is not reinventing the wheel. This is not a hard thing to do,” Heede said. “Somebody’s not doing their job somewhere. This is so frustrating. That is crazy to hold it up with bureaucratic delays. They’re so concerned about the processes that they have just absolutely forgot why they’re trying to do this.”
Keith Ridley, head of the Department of Health’s medical marijuana dispensary program, said the software tracking program must interact with an existing patient registry system to ensure dispensaries are not exceeding the 8-ounce per month restriction on sales to patients.
“It’s very important that we get this software tracking system up and running as quickly as possible,” Ridley said. “It prevents patients from shopping from dispensary to dispensary and exceeding restrictions. We’re doing it in phases so we can get at least a rudimentary system as soon as possible.”
Sen. Roz Baker (D, West Maui-South Maui) urged health officials not to let bureaucracy slow down the opening of the dispensaries.
“From a legislative perspective, we want to make sure there’s not bureaucratic delays in getting these things out,” she said. “You don’t necessarily have to wait for everything until you get started. That shouldn’t preclude production centers from starting to grow.”
Patrick Vo, president and CEO of software vendor BioTrackTHC, said the system is being used in other states, and that he doesn’t anticipate many changes to the software for Hawaii.
“It is our hope by taking the solution we’ve already deployed in other states, we’d be able to have a very rapid implementation,” he said. “We are going to do everything we can to quickly deploy a system.”
Another issue delaying marijuana sales is the absence of a certified laboratory to test the safety of the product before it can be sold. The Health Department has yet to receive an application for a laboratory, though several companies have expressed interest, Ridley said.
“We are hoping they are coming in soon. The interest we’ve been hearing about makes us optimistic, but until we actually see applications (we don’t know),” he said. “Licensees cannot sell products until the material has been tested.”
Dana Ciccone, chief executive officer of Steep Hill Hawaii, which intended to open a testing laboratory on Oahu by December, said the reason labs aren’t open yet is that there are no operational dispensaries and the laboratory equipment is expensive to lease.
“Without us knowing when the dispensaries are going to open, there’s no reason to be certified (by the state) because the cost of operation is up to $30,000 a month. After learning that no dispensaries are ready and the state hasn’t even signed an agreement for a seed-to-sale system, we now are looking at later dates,” he said. “That’s why no laboratory has stepped up because no one wants to sit there and just burn money. These leases on these machines are expensive.”
Hawaii legalized medical marijuana 16 years ago, but patients did not have a legal way to obtain the drug. Act 241, passed in 2015, allowed the state to issue eight licenses for a total of 16 medical marijuana dispensaries statewide. The law allowed dispensaries to open July 15, but the state and licensees weren’t ready.
