Costly Mistake Puts at Risk Hawaii Cannabis Patients
Thousands of medical cannabis patients and users in Hawaii will be soon impacted by a rushed change in the law. A new measure will make medical cannabis caregivers and large community grow sites illegal, starting from 2025. Hawaii legislators say that they will try to reverse the policy, though they have already missed a chance to fix the issue within this year.
The marijuana that a lot of medical cannabis patients take as a remedy in Hawaii is grown and processed by caregivers. However, this well-established system of how things function will no longer be viewed as legal. Caregivers as well as large community grow sites where many of them grow cannabis will become illegal at the beginning of next year.
Lawmakers say that this was a mistake and that they will try to fix the issue without delay, according to House Public Safety Chair Rep. Della Belatti. “It really was a failure that we did not address this impending deadline, and now we have the crisis upon us,” Belatti said, Hawaii News Now reported.
Hawaii Caregiver Program to Lapse End of December
Registered caregivers in Hawaii are allowed to grow up to 10 medicinal cannabis plants for patients who are unable to do so by themselves. Very often patients who are bedridden or disabled. Caregivers do grow cannabis for them at larger community grow sites and give it to the patients to help them with pain, depression, anxiety, and other conditions eligible and recommended for using medical marijuana. But this program is now set to expire on Dec. 31.
“The change at the end of the year is going to affect me big time because if I can’t grow it here. I can’t grow it at home,” one caregiver said, according to Hawaii News Now.
Hawaii medical patients often opt for caregivers also because dispensaries are too expensive. Once the caregiver program terminates, it’s assumed that many of the patients who can’t afford buying at legit stores will have no other choice but to go to the black market.
Hawaii would not be the sole example of a cannabis caregiver crisis this year, however. Maine’s medical cannabis caregiver program has also suffered. But while in Maine the problems have been ascribed to an overcrowded medical market, in Hawaii the purported reason is alleged links between community grow sites and the black market. This has prompted authorities to take legal action and enforce new measures, such as introducing the bans. Even though they are now saying that caregivers will become legal again as soon as possible, even if this is only a short-term measure, it is a situation that can create chaos.
According to the latest data from the Hawaii Department of Health, there are currently 2,628 caregivers on the islands providing canna medicines to patients registered with the state cannabis program. As of Oct. 31, there are 30,065 patients who have a valid cannabis patient status in Hawaii.
Legalizing the recreational use of cannabis in Hawaii is also on the table. The state’s Senate approved an adult-use bill earlier this year, but the House did not vote on a companion bill after that. Hawaii State Representative David Tarnas made a recent announcement where he said a new bill for recreational cannabis is underway and should be considered among lawmakers in 2025.
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Stephen Andrews
