Aloha Alliance,

The Hawaii State Department of Health Marijuana Registry Program posted a new Marijuana Laws and Related Documents page on the registry program website. The page lists Hawaii laws, relevant Hawaii revised statutes, and federal regulations, including short blurbs from DOH about the laws and selected statutes.

With the new web page, the Registry Program is trying to be transparent by creating a public place where information about the rules and regulations is available. The featured laws include the initial Medical Use of Marijuana law and the Dispensary law that established the dispensary program, as well as relevant amendments and administrative rules.

New data from the 2017 legislative session will not be uploaded until “November(ish).”

The Federal Guidance section of the site has six laws from the federal government pertaining to medical cannabis – Including the federal restrictions on firearm ownership, federal restrictions on CBD extracts, and federal guidance for public housing.

If you would like an accessible introduction to the laws featured on this page, make sure to download this handy booklet created by Drug Policy Forum of Hawaii, one of the industry’s greatest advocates.

While the new page and information is certainly beneficial for businesses and patients, about one-third of the content focuses on the general criminality and penalties associated with cannabis and its commercialization, penalties unrelated to the medical use of cannabis. This information even includes a link to an external journal article on Hawaii’s criminal penalties.

By choosing to emphasize this information about the criminality of cannabis instead of using its authority to better serve patients and promote the growth of the medical program, the Registry Program seems to have stumbled back into the thorny public safety weeds about the stigmatization of cannabis.

Now is the time to focus on the betterment of the program and showcase laws that can help patients and businesses alike. Instead of taking cues from Public Safety; DOH and the Registry Program should focus on serving patients, not scaring them.

It is the Alliance’s mission to provide up-to-date and relevant industry information to the patients, current and future dispensaries, and related businesses of Hawai‘i’s growing medicinal cannabis industry. If you are not yet a member of the Hawai‘i Dispensary Alliance, join today to receive the HDA Industry Update bi-monthly, and take an active role in the future of Hawai‘i’s medical marijuana industry. Contact us today and we will send you this 2017 Summer Omnibus edition of the Industry Update absolutely free. You can also find us on Facebook or Twitter. Raise your voice, take action, and join the Hawai‘i Dispensary Alliance today.