Medical marijuana plants are to be tagged with the patient’s state registration number and expiration date, under rules adopted by the state in July.
Medical marijuana plants are to be tagged with the patient’s state registration number and expiration date, under rules adopted by the state in July.
Not everyone is aware of the new rules, although the information is being mailed out with annual medical marijuana registration cards and is on the state Department of Health’s website, officials said. The Health Department sent out a reminder Tuesday.
“My understanding is people are learning about it,” Peter Whiticar, a Health Department branch chief overseeing the program, recently said. “The word should be getting out.”
In addition, all patients and caregivers are required to have their registration card and valid ID on their person whenever they are in possession of medical marijuana.
This means neither patients nor caregivers are authorized by the DOH to begin the use of medical marijuana until they receive their registration card.
The state also clarified laws about interisland travel with medical marijuana, by banning it under state law. Previously, patients often had their marijuana confiscated at the airport by federal Transportation Security Administration agents because it was against federal law, leaving patients in limbo under state law.
All certified patients or caregivers registered to grow marijuana plants must have a legible identification tag on each plant, up to the allowable limit of seven plants per registered patient. The plants must be at the registered address, which is either the patient’s address or his or her caregiver’s. The plants can’t be split between two sites.
Caregivers who grow medical marijuana for more than one registered patient must have the appropriate patient’s information on each tag, and no more than seven plants per patient, under the rules.
Tags must be at least 3 inches long by one-quarter inch wide, with blue or black lettering on a solid background, affixed to the base of the plant. Detailed information about the tags is found at http://health.hawaii.gov/medicalmarijuana/files/2014/11/Tags-7-24-15-FINAL.pdf.
The definition of “adequate supply” — the maximum a patient is allowed to possess — changed in January from “three mature marijuana plants, four immature marijuana plants and 1 ounce of usable marijuana” to “seven marijuana plants, whether immature or mature, and 4 ounces of usable marijuana at any given time.”
The law taking effect in July made further changes, including:
• Adding post-traumatic stress disorder as an eligible debilitating medical condition.
• Removing the requirement that a certifying physician be the qualifying patient’s primary care physician as long as the certifying physician maintains a bona fide physician-patient relationship with the qualifying patient.
• Prohibiting patients and caregivers from using butane to extract tetrahydrocannabinol from marijuana plants.
• Adding the provision that after Dec. 31, 2018, no primary caregiver shall be authorized to cultivate marijuana for any qualifying patient. New medical marijuana dispensaries are expected to be operating by that time.
Email Nancy Cook Lauer at ncook-lauer@westhawaiitoday.com.