The state has charged a medical marijuana dispensary employee with stealing pakalolo while on the job.
The Attorney General’s Office filed felony charges against Brian Zodrow, who worked at a Honolulu dispensary and allegedly stole cannabis on at least four occasions and falsified dispensary records. In each instance the amount was less than $250.
The Attorney General’s Office said this was the first case of an employee allegedly stealing from a dispensary in Hawaii.
In committing the theft, the Attorney General’s Office said Zodrow created false records for four dispensary patients. The complaint was filed in 1st Circuit Court on Sept. 7. The name of the dispensary hasn’t been disclosed.
There are three dispensaries open on Oahu: Aloha Green Apothecary, Noa Botanicals and Cure Oahu.
Dispensaries use an online seed-to-sale tracking system, which monitors marijuana inventory from the time the plant is grown to the sale to patients. The system connects with the Department of Health’s patient registry system to ensure patients do not purchase more than four ounces in a 15-day period.
Zodrow, who no longer works at the dispensary, has not been served with the charges because of court delays in issuing a warrant for his arrest, the Attorney General’s Office said. Details of the case will be issued when he is arraigned.
Hawaii legalized medical cannabis in 2000, but patients had no legal way to obtain the drug. Act 241, passed in 2015, allowed the state to issue eight licenses — three on Oahu, one on Kauai and two each on Maui and Hawaii island — for a total of 16 production centers and 16 dispensaries.
Maui Grown Therapies was the first dispensary to open in Hawaii. It opened on Aug. 8, 2017, followed the next day by Aloha Green Apothecary in Honolulu. They were followed by Pono Life Maui, Noa Botanicals and Cure Oahu in Honolulu. In May, Green Aloha Ltd., doing business as Have a Heart, began sales in Kapaa, Kauai.
There were 22,078 medical marijuana patients registered with the state as of Aug. 31.
