The state is remaining tight-lipped about details surrounding its budding medical marijuana dispensary program — and so are most of the applicants.
The state is remaining tight-lipped about details surrounding its budding medical marijuana dispensary program — and so are most of the applicants.
The Tribune-Herald attempted to contact all of the 14 applicants vying for two Hawaii County licenses. Many calls were not returned or those who were reached declined to comment.
Among applicants who did comment, however, was Denim Cretton, a schoolteacher at the Hawaii Academy of Arts and Science in Pahoa.
Cretton said he’s a Maui native who’s lived on the Big Island for the past 11 years. He revealed elaborate dispensary plans to the Tribune-Herald which he said would meet long-term, overarching goals — providing affordable, safe and quality medical cannabis at a discount to local residents, veterans and seniors, as well as helping the community by creating a food sustainability program.
Cretton’s group applied under the name Delta 11 Hawaii Inc. He said he’s working with a team of about 12 people, all of whom live in Hawaii at least part time or have ties to the state.
One team member, he said, is island resident Jana Bogs, author of a book called “Beyond Organic.” Another, the company’s CFO and CEO, is Alex Boggio, who also heads a Delta 11, not-for-profit dispensary in California. Cretton said Boggio and the company’s treasurer, Gaspare Indelicato — a California restaurant owner — are monetary investors in the company. Cretton is the company’s president and COO.
The dispensary would donate 3 percent of its revenue to reconstitute neglected land on the island, and use it to grow community gardens and edible forests. Cretton said the company thinks it eventually can create up to 300 jobs — at least 200 through the dispensary operations and about 100 through the food program.
The plan earned a stamp of approval from state Sen. Russell Ruderman, a Democrat who represents Puna. In a Jan. 26 letter, Ruderman called Delta 11 plans “consistent with the needs of the community.”
“I feel we’ve got a great shot,” Cretton said. “We come from a really grassroots level, talking with people and local community leaders all the time. I’ve heard nothing but positive support with what we’re trying to accomplish, and I’m confident we at least stand a chance.
“If we don’t get the permit, we still want to be able to share our vision with people so that at least we know there will be a community impact,” he added.
Another applicant is Hilo Realtor Hank Correa, who applied for a dispensary license under the name Big Island Compassion Solutions LLC.
About a year ago, Correa said he watched a television special about a young girl who suffered from epileptic seizures. The girl’s seizures were dramatically reduced after taking medical marijuana, he said, which was “the turning point in (he and his wife’s) decision.”
“I became convinced that there’s a true medical aspect to it all, so we decided to pursue it,” he told the Tribune-Herald.
Correa declined to share specifics about his proposed dispensary plans in order to “respect the process,” but said he’s working in collaboration with “a group of experts of different fields.” He said his goal isn’t so much profitability as it is to open shop on the Big Island, where he’s from.
“I’m a local boy, having growing up here all my life,” Correa said. “This is my island, this is where I’m from. That’s the reason we applied for a license here on the Big Island.”
Another applicant is Kellen Kashiwa of KMD LLC. Kashiwa is an optometrist at Retina Institute of Hawaii in Honolulu who commutes to the Big Island several times per week to see patients in Hilo, Kona and Waimea. He said in an email he applied for a license here in part because the county contains more medical marijuana card-holders than any other county in the state.
“Access is a huge barrier to care on Hawaii Island,” he said. “Ensuring patients have access to quality care” has been and still is “my biggest motivation, and why I continue to maintain a strong presence (on the Big Island).”
Kashiwa said his interest in the business started about seven years ago when he was a medical student in Oregon. In Oregon, he saw “firsthand the process and outcomes” of medical cannabis and now is “especially impressed” with how Hawaii’s Department of Health has handled the process here.
His own grandfather, he said in the email, suffered from advanced Alzheimer’s disease, and his family researched medical marijuana as an alternative treatment. The trouble, he said, is “it is unknown exactly what the patient would be getting — they either have to grow it themselves or obtain it from a ‘black box’ somewhere.”
“We do not want patients to get the ‘special of the day’ as determined by a ‘budtender,’” he said in the email.
Kashiwa said his team is comprised of various professionals, including medical doctors, “expert agriculturalists” and people in government relations and retail. He said he is born and raised in Hawaii and wants to keep the business local. If approved, he wants to employ local people.
State Department of Health spokeswoman Janice Okubo said the department will not release any more information about the applicants until selections are announced April 15 to avoid “(doing) anything that might compromise (the) process.”
Selections will be based on merit: Applicants are scored on a lengthy list of criteria which include ability to operate a business, a plan for operating a dispensary, proof of financial sustainability and access to financial resources, among other things.
Okubo said the state will release applicant scores after selections are announced so the public can see how each stacked up. Once selected, licensees can begin operating July 15. Hawaii County was awarded two licenses. Each will allow the licensee to operate up to two production centers and two retail-dispensing locations.
Other Big Island applicants include:
• Benjamin Partyka, a Honolulu man who is seeking licenses in Hawaii and Kauai counties under the name 11th Street Partners LLC. Multiple calls and a text to Partyka were not returned.
• Barry Worchel, who also applied for licenses in Honolulu and Maui. Worchel applied under the name Aloha Compassionate Care LLC. A Barry Worchel is listed online as a psychiatrist in Hilo. When the Tribune-Herald contacted the psychiatrist requesting an interview about his dispensary application, he said he was not speaking to the media.
“I’m not giving any interviews, thank you though for calling,” he said.
“If things are awarded, then possibly … I’d be willing to discuss,” he added when contacted a second time.
• Richard Ha, who applied under his company name, Lau Ola LLC. Ha previously told the Tribune-Herald he decided to apply for a license after announcing last month plans to close his Pepeekeo banana farm. He said he would offer his former workers jobs at the dispensary, which would be an enclosed facility with security measures in place.
• Yale Ecklund, who applied under the name Hanu Maka Aina LLC, which is tied to a Kamuela mailing address. Megan Kau, an associate at a Honolulu law firm who is the company’s registered agent, told the Tribune-Herald that Ecklund is a Big Island native. Ecklund did not respond to the Tribune-Herald’s multiple requests for an interview for this story.
• Adel Etinas, who also applied for a license in Honolulu under the company name Hawaii Agri-Health LLC. An Adel Etinas was co-owner of Mina Pharmacy, which operated two Big Island stores until last spring, when Longs Drug acquired the entire pharmacy operation, though it’s unconfirmed if the applicant is the same Etinas as the former pharmacy owner. Calls to attorney Steven Rinesmith of Honolulu, listed as the company’s registered agent, were not returned.
• James York, who also applied for licenses in Honolulu, Kauai and Maui under the name Hawaii Equity Partners Inc. The company is tied to a residential mailing address in Sun City, Ariz. The Tribune-Herald reached a James “Jim” York, president of a commercial real estate company in Honolulu, and asked him to comment about applying for a Hawaii County dispensary license. York declined to comment about the matter until after the state announces licensees.
“I appreciate the call, darling, but I’m just not at liberty to talk,” he told the Tribune-Herald. “Not until after the selection process,” he added when contacted a second time.
• Shelby Floyd of Hawaiian Ethos LLC, which is registered under a Kamuela mailing address.
• John Morris IV of Kai Consulting LLC, which is registered under a Honolulu mailing address.
• Steven Black of Kona Gold Wellness Center LLC, which is registered under a Captain Cook mailing address.
• Luis Romero of Makalapua Health LLC. The company is registered under a Honolulu mailing address.
• Katherine Hunter of Mauna Kea Cannabis Company, registered with a Keaau address.
Email Kirsten Johnson at kjohnson@hawaiitribune-herald.com.