Aloha Alliance,

The Hawaii State Department of Health Medical Marijuana Program today posted the latest DOH Newsletter about their progress. The newsletter contained one article and a re-posting of DOH’s “Be a Good Neighbor” flyer from April.

The sole article, “Upholding Patient Safety While Supporting Hawaii’s Medical Marijuana Dispensaries”, is an interview with DOH Laboratory Administrator Dr. A. Christian Whelen. In this interview, Dr. Whelen outlines the process for laboratory certification, provides an update on current certifications, and describes some of the Laboratory Division’s other roles.

For those looking for when the dispensaries can officially open, as of this newsletter, there is no new news about the certification of a medical marijuana testing laboratory aside from “the soonest we could see certification of all analytes by the same lab would probably be July 2017.” The dispensaries would then have to test their products prior to opening their doors.

It is the Alliance’s mission to provide up-to-date and relevant industry information to the patients, dispensary applicants, and related businesses of Hawai‘i’s growing medicinal cannabis industry. If you are not yet an Alliance member, join today to receive the HDA Industry Update every month and to take an active role in the future of Hawai‘i’s medical marijuana industry. Contact us today and we will send you the Winter 2017 edition of the HDA Industry Update absolutely free to say thank you for your interest!