Hawaii Announces Selection Of Medical Marijuana Dispensary Licenses

Robert Celt

New Member
The state Department of Health (DOH) announced Friday the selection of applicants for eight medical marijuana dispensary licenses.

The Department will award three licenses for the City and County of Honolulu, two licenses each for the Counties of Hawaii and Maui, and one dispensary license for the County of Kauai.

The applicants that have been selected are:

City and County of Honolulu

Aloha Green Holdings Inc.
Agent: Charles Lee

Manoa Botanicals LLC
Agent: Brian Goldstein

TCG Retro Market 1, LLC dba Cure Oahu
Agent: Tradewind Capital Group

Scott Kuioka
Duane Kurisu
Richard Lim
Tobias Martyn
Colbert Matsumoto
Dana Tokioka
Franklin Tokioka
Kent Walther
County of Hawaii

Hawaiian Ethos LLC
Agent: Shelby A. Floyd

Lau Ola LLC
Agent: Dylan Shropshire

County of Maui

Maui Wellness Group, LLC
Managers: Alston, Hunt, Floyd & Ing, Attorneys at Law

Pono Life Sciences Maui, LLC
Managers: William Mitchell and Robert Wong

County of Kauai

Green Aloha, Ltd.
Agent: Justin Britt

The eight were selected from a pool of 66 applicants.

A licensed dispensary may begin dispensing marijuana no sooner than July 15, 2016, with the approval of the Department of Health. Each dispensary licensee may operate up to two production centers and two retail dispensing locations within the county they are licensed to serve.

"We look forward to providing access to qualified patients so that they have access to a safe product very soon," said Dr. Virginia Pressler, state Department of Health director.

Friday's announcement is only the next step in a long process.

"The selected applicants will be notified by mail and they have up to seven days to get back the $75,000 application fees to us in order to be awarded a license," Pressler said.

Once the company is awarded the license, it will then be required to obtain a certificate from the Narcotics Enforcement Division of the Department of Public Safety. Then it can start operations.

"By operations, they will begin to formulate where they are going to be located, hiring staff, and doing whatever else they need to do to setup the dispensary," said Keith Ridley, chief of the Office of Health Care Assurance and member of the medical marijuana dispensary license application review panel.

Once those requirements are taken care of and the DOH gives them the final approval, they can begin to dispense. That will happen no earlier than the middle of July, but moving forward, some say there still could be challenges.

"So speaking from a botanical point of view, can they really get the product and plants grown by then?" said Pam Lichty, Drug Policy Forum of Hawaii president. "I understand it usually takes three to four months, so that seems like it is going to be a logistical challenge."

"We'll be continuing to follow them, to insure that if they are opening a new facility, it will be an enclosed, indoor facility," he said. "We will be monitoring, not only with what they submitted to use in the application, but also to insure they are in compliance with the law."

If, for some reason, the $75,000 licensing fee is not timely paid by close of business on the seventh day, the selected applicant will be disqualified, and the Department shall select the next highest scoring applicant for the county.

The department is holding unselected applications in reserve to offer a license to the next highest scoring applicant if the selected applicants fail to timely pay the required licensing fee. When all available licenses have been issued, the unselected applications will be removed from the list of reserved applications and the Department will notify all applicants of their status, at which time they will have an opportunity to appeal the denial.

We wanted to know how the DOH chose the eight licensees, and if the department will post their scores online.

A four-member selection panel reviewed and scored applications based on 13 merit criteria, some of which include the ability to operate a business, a plan and timeline for operations, proof of financial stability, ability to comply with security requirements, and capacity to meet patient needs.

While officials would not elaborate further, Ridley said, "We will be posting the scores for all the applicants on our website. We are working on that right now to make sure it is posted. We are anticipating sometime in the next couple of weeks that we will be posting it."

bud_by_John_Burgess1.jpg


News Moderator: Robert Celt 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Hawaii Announces Selection Of Medical Marijuana Dispensary Licenses
Author: Brent Remadna
Contact: KHON2
Photo Credit: John Burgess
Website: KHON2
 
Back
Top Bottom