Hawaii

HONOLULU — Hawaii has approved its first laboratory to begin testing samples of medical marijuana 17 years after use of the drug was legalized in the state. On Monday, the state Department of Health certified Honolulu-based lab Steep Hill Hawaii. …

One year ago this month, Hawaii’s medical marijuana law permitted dispensaries in the state to begin selling medical cannabis to registered patients. But even though many of these dispensaries are stocked with product and ready to do business, the state …

Concerned that U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions is going to make good on threats to cause trouble for those involved with the legal marijuana industry, Hawaii’s biggest workers’ compensation insurance firm has severed all ties with the state’s medical marijuana …

HONOLULU — Medical marijuana dispensaries are beginning to open in Hawaii, but they’re not allowed to sell their products. Instead, the leafy medicinal greens they’ve harvested are sitting on a shelf unsold because nearly a year after dispensaries were legally …

The Cleveland Cavaliers’ frustrations have mounted throughout the NBA Finals so much so that they may have settled down with the help of marijuana after last night’s game 2. Steph Curry, Kevin Durant and company dominated LeBron James and his …

Since 2015, the state of Hawaii has been working to establish a full-fledged medical cannabis program. The regulatory process has taken quite some time to develop, and local lawmakers have taken the responsibility of cultivating a more medicinally driven identity to replace the usual stigma surrounding marijuana. And now, it finally seems as if the state is on the brink of allowing dispensaries to open up their doors to patients. 

On Wednesday, the Hawaii State Department of Health approved a license to allow Maui Grown Therapies to produce cannabis-derivative products in its production center.

Hawaii health officials could soon be forced to officially change the term “medical marijuana” to “medical cannabis,” which legislative forces believe more accurately describes the true therapeutic nature of the herb without the racial connotations.

There is a bill currently sitting on the desk of Governor David Ige that, if signed, would dictate the change of all documentation, websites or other materials pertaining to the state’s medical marijuana program to express medical cannabis instead.

The bill was introduced by Senator Mike Gabbard because, according to its language, the term marijuana “carries prejudicial implications rooted in racial stereotypes.”

If Governor

(Photo courtesy Flickr.com/gageskidmore)


A bipartisan group of House Democrats and Republicans recently hashed out a $1 trillion budget for government spending, but none of which will be used to crack down on legal pot.
A new government funding bill will block the Department of Justice from using federal funds to prosecute law-abiding medical marijuana companies operating in legal states, reports the Orange County Register.
The budget’s full text of the marijuana provision is as follows:
None of the funds made available in this Act to the Department of Justice may be used, with respect to any of the States