Years after coming close to establishing a pilot program, state officials are meeting with policy experts, patients, caregivers, lawmakers and others with the aim of crafting a bill that would allow medical marijuana distribution centers to operate legally in Hawaii.
The Medical Marijuana Dispensary System Task Force, authorized by a joint resolution of the Legislature, convenes Tuesday to develop recommendations for establishing a statewide dispensary system for medical marijuana.
Officials say the ultimate goal is to offer qualified patients safe and legal access to medical marijuana.
"I’m committed to improving access to medical marijuana and building on the reform of 2013-14," Senate Health Committee Chairman Josh Green (D, Naalehu-Kailua-Kona) said in a text message. "I envision legislating and forming a pilot dispensary program for Hawaii with proper safeguards this coming year."
A proposal to establish a two-year pilot program for dispensaries died in the final days of the 2011 session.
Laws passed in 2013 transferred administration of the medical marijuana program to the Department of Health from the Department of Public Safety and made substantive changes to the amount of marijuana patients were allowed to have at any one time.
Hawaii was the first state to pass legislation approving the use of medicinal marijuana — seven other states had done so previously through ballot measures — but advocates say the state has fallen behind others that have begun managing their initiatives as health programs.
The task force is being convened by the Public Policy Center of the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
Policy Center Director Susan Chandler, coordinator of the meeting, says the goal is to give the 2015 Legislature a proposal that takes into account the views expressed by the members of the task force. Representatives from 21 groups, including the attorney general’s office, Department of Health, Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, police chiefs, prosecutors, the American Civil Liberties Union, doctors, patients and caregivers, are scheduled to attend Tuesday’s inaugural meeting.
"My goal is that we will, at the end, have come to some agreements about the various aspects of how to move that issue forward," she said.
