Medical Marijuana Proponents Predict Big Increase in Users New data from the state Department of Health confirms Hawaii County has nearly twice as many medical marijuana patients as Oahu, with about 11 percent living in Pahoa alone. On June 30, there were 6,101 patients residing on Hawaii Island, comprising 42 percent of the 14,492 patients statewide. The island has about 13 percent of the state's total population. Pahoa, with an estimated 14,565 residents in 2014, had 702 of those patients. Meanwhile, Hilo - with roughly three times the population as Pahoa - had 637 patients. Kona had 705 and Oahu had 3,408 patients. [continues 607 words]
Afederal appeals court gave medical marijuana advocates what seemed like a big win this week with a unanimous ruling that the federal government cannot prosecute people who grow and distribute medicinal cannabis if they comply with state laws. The decision affirms a mandate from Congress that barred the U.S. Department of Justice in 2014 and 2015 from bringing cases against legitimate pot shops in states that have medical marijuana laws. It makes clear that if operators are meticulously following the rules, they shouldn't have to worry about the feds coming after them. [continues 437 words]
So, proposed new laws might make it legal for cannabis dispensaries to grow pakalolo in sunlight, and nurses might be able to certify pot patients. Whoopee! Why not just decriminalize Hawaii's biggest cash crop, and tax dispensaries and growers, like grocery stores and farmers? End of story! Why is that so hard for the politicians to understand? It's about time government stops trying to protect people from themselves! Fred Fogel Volcano [end]
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) - The growing number of patients who claim marijuana helped them drop their painkiller habit has intrigued lawmakers and emboldened advocates, who are pushing for cannabis as a treatment for the abuse of opioids and illegal narcotics such as heroin, as well as an alternative to painkillers. It's a tempting sell in New England, hard hit by the painkiller and heroin crisis, with a problem: There is very little research showing marijuana works as a treatment for the addiction. [continues 240 words]
HONOLULU (AP) - With less than a week to go before the state is scheduled to announce the names of its first medical marijuana dispensary owners, lawmakers are considering a bill to clarify gaps in the dispensary law passed last year. State lawmakers discussed a bill during a hearing Monday that would clear up tax problems and give certain nurses the ability to recommend medical marijuana for patients. It also would allow for interisland transport of medical marijuana for laboratory testing and make rules for what kind of marijuana products could be sold in dispensaries. [continues 206 words]
Some Fear Dispensaries Will Limit Access and Be Cost-Prohibitive Crippling stress, extreme pain and bad arthritis - for 72-year-old Subhadra Corcoran, cannabis is essentially the only fix. The Kona resident has used the drug medicinally for decades. For the past 10 years, she's been a patient in Hawaii's medical marijuana program. But later this year, when the state's first dispensaries can legally begin operating, Corcoran isn't planning to use them. "I can't afford to buy pot," said Corcoran, who said she currently gets weed through a caregiver on the island. "I'm 72-years-old, disabled and living off Social Security ... if they had $10 (for an eighth of an ounce of marijuana), I would. If they would make it affordable and my insurance would cover, of course I would. But that's not going to happen." [continues 606 words]
The county settled a lawsuit with a Puna man who claims police illegally confiscated the medical marijuana growing on his Fern Acres property almost four years ago. The settlement with Brad Snow and three others was for a total of $4,800. Snow filed suit in May 2014, claiming his property was improperly raided during a marijuana eradication sweep June 14, 2012, even though the plaintiffs had medical marijuana cards and were in compliance with the law. "The value of six months of marijuana growing in your backyard; they take it, and they don't give you anything for it," Snow said Tuesday. "They don't arrest you. They don't charge you. They just come and take your stuff. I did not have too many plants. I did not have too much marijuana." [continues 499 words]
State Lawmakers Ask DOH to Research That Question HONOLULU (AP) - State lawmakers are asking how much marijuana a driver can safely consume before getting behind the wheel of a car. It's an issue they want to tackle now that the state is setting up medical marijuana dispensaries. So, Rep. Cindy Evans, D-North Kona, North Kohala and South Kohala, and 15 other lawmakers introduced a resolution asking the state Department of Health to study whether a person can safely drive while under the influence. [continues 394 words]
HONOLULU (AP) - Industry experts say there are a lot of chemicals that could contaminate Hawaii's medical marijuana. Dispensaries are set to open throughout the state in July, and lawmakers are pushing a broad bill to address many of the obstacles the industry is facing. One is how to regulate marijuana testing. The proposed state law would set requirements for testing medical marijuana's potency and also would test for contaminants such as heavy metals, bacteria and pesticides, which industry experts say is necessary to ensure patient safety. Under state rules, dispensaries must send all marijuana products to a certified laboratory for testing. [continues 286 words]
Feasibility Study Suggests Crop Will 'Grow Like Gangbusters' Bills that would allow the state Department of Agriculture to create pilot research programs for industrial hemp are moving through both chambers of the state Legislature. "I'm very happy that the bill is alive at this point," state Sen. Russell Ruderman, D-Puna, said of SB 2659, the Senate measure he co-introduced. SB 2659 and its House counterpart, HB 2555, are not companion bills, but have the same aim of establishing the DOA research program. [continues 574 words]
Geography of State May Prove Challenging for Marijuana Industry HONOLULU - With less than five months to go before medical marijuana dispensaries can open in Hawaii, business owners could be facing unique obstacles in a state of islands separated by federal waters. Dispensaries can open as soon as July 15, but industry experts say they could be confronted with challenges unlike those in other states, such as navigating rules that ban inter-island transport and limit the number of growers - all of which could cause marijuana shortages. A lack of labs to test the crop presents another challenge for state lawmakers. [continues 562 words]
Police Question Outdoor Growing, Reduced Penalties Several bills being considered by the state Legislature aim to make things easier for people in the state's medical marijuana program, but Big Island police have a few concerns. Senate Bill 2523, introduced by Puna Democrat Sen. Russell Ruderman, as originally written would allow open-air growing operations, greenhouses and shade houses to serve as medical marijuana production centers - so long as operations aren't visible to the outside. The idea, Ruderman said, is for plants to grow under natural sunlight "as they've evolved to do," rather than indoors under artificial lamps. The bill was amended Thursday to nix openair growing, and would now take effect starting in 2017, rather than this year. [continues 544 words]
State police confiscated more than 6,700 marijuana plants on the Big Island during two recent eradication missions. The Department of Public Safety Narcotics Enforcement Division had a mission Sept. 18-19 in East Hawaii, said Toni Schwartz, public information officer for the department. They found 6,000 plants, 90 percent of which were in one open-forest grow situation. On Monday and Tuesday, the officers performed a similar mission on the west side of the Big Island. There, NED officers confiscated more than 700 plants, she said. Most were growing in residential areas. [continues 371 words]
It's encouraging reading the Tribune-Herald's "No drugs or guns? You're still busted" (Dec. 3), calling out one of America's worst policy failures in history. Hopefully, the Tribune-Herald has a positive editorial when it's Hawaii's turn to re-legalize the God-given plant cannabis (marijuana). Colorado re-legalized cannabis more than a year ago, and the sky isn't falling in. A sane argument to cage responsible adults who choose to use cannabis doesn't exist. Stan White Dillon, Colo. [end]
The costly, counterproductive war on drugs has turned the United States into incarceration nation. According to the International Centre for Prison Studies, 716 of every 100,000 people in this country are locked up, by far the highest rate in the world, well ahead of such beacons of freedom as Rwanda, Cuba and Russia. Yet as more and more Americans come to realize the failures of America's prohibitionist drug policy - this fall, for the first time, Gallup found a clear majority of people favor complete legalization of marijuana - our elected officials and police forces seem more determined than ever to lock up citizens for nonviolent offenses - or for nothing at all. [continues 427 words]
Another reason to allow sick citizens to use cannabis (marijuana) for pain that doesn't get mentioned ("Medical marijuana bill goes to the House for consideration," March 7) is because it is biblically correct, since God indicates He created all the seed-bearing plants, saying they are all good, on literally the very first page (Genesis 1:11-12 and 29-30). The only biblical restriction placed on cannabis is to accept it with thankfulness (1 Timothy 4:1-5). And, "But whoever has the world's goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?" (1 John 3:17). Further, many people know cannabis is the tree of life, and the last page of the Bible indicates the leaves of the tree of life are for the healing of the nations. Jesus risked jail to heal the sick. Stan White Colorado [end]
Marijuana is in the news. Now the focus is too many people have medical marijuana permits (Tribune-Herald, Feb. 11). Too many are too young. Too many do not have the correct diagnoses. Is this a threat to the community? Is this really where our focus should be? Is this where our resources should be spent? Methamphetamine has a severe impact on our community. It's made in illegal labs with chemicals that are not meant for human consumption. This substance is tied directly to violent crimes. [continues 179 words]
A bill to tighten the state's medical marijuana law has passed the second of three required floor votes in the state House of Representatives. The only "no" vote at Thursday's second reading was by Rep. Faye Hanohano, a Puna Democrat, who did not return a phone call by story deadline. House Bill 1963 was drafted by the state's Narcotics Enforcement Division, which administers the state's medical marijuana program. The bill has been referred to the House Judiciary Committee, which hasn't yet scheduled a hearing. [continues 776 words]
It is truly criminal that unscrupulous drug gangs cultivate marijuana in national forests with complete disregard for the environment ("Forests vs. marijuana," Tribune-Herald, Dec. 27). This is solely because the high price of illegal cannabis makes this activity worth the risk. And so, the U.S. Forest Service will continue with eradication and cleanup efforts and will begin advocating for re-legalizing cannabis as a disincentive to grow pot on public lands. BINGO! Now why hasn't that brilliant idea been forwarded sooner? [continues 219 words]
Roger Christie is a man ahead of the times. With unflinching personal convictions, he is being persecuted for his beliefs and detained without bail (Tribune-Herald, June 12). This is happening in a country which hypocritically defends freedom of speech and religion and the right to reasonable bail. In the future, citizens will be appalled by the manner in which medical cannabis patients, religious followers and consumers had been imprisoned during the 40-year war on drugs, which primarily targeted cannabis consumers. [continues 215 words]
