There’s a “gray area” in Hawaii’s up-and-coming medical marijuana dispensary program that few are talking about: In order for dispensaries to procure their first batch of cannabis, someone’s going to have to break the law.
The dispensary law does not provide a legal way for licensees to acquire their initial seeds or plants, and marijuana remains a federal Schedule 1 drug that is illegal to transport from the mainland and also is illegal to sell under current state law.
The state Department of Health, which oversees Hawaii’s medical marijuana programs, “does not have information” about ways to obtain marijuana, DOH spokeswoman Janice Okubo said in an email, and rules “do not include any requirements for reporting on the initial acquisition of plants or seeds by licensees.”
Rules only cover the licensing requirements after that initial acquisition of marijuana, Okubo said.
“This appears to be a gray area,” the Hawaii County Prosecuting Attorney’s office said in a written statement. “The law doesn’t address this.” [Read more at Hawaii Herald-Tribune]
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