The state Department of Health on Monday approved its first laboratory to begin testing medical marijuana, putting Hawaii’s dispensaries one step closer to being able to open.
The DOH granted Oahu-based private independent laboratory Steep Hill Hawaii provisional certification to test samples of marijuana, effective immediately.
The company “successfully passed its final on-site inspection and met requirements that demonstrate it has the capacity and proficiency to test cannabis and manufactured cannabis in compliance with state law,” the DOH said in a news release.
For Hawaii’s more than 17,000 medical marijuana patients, the news is long overdue: State law has allowed dispensaries to sell marijuana for more than a year, but none have actually been able to do so because of a lack of state-certified labs.
Law requires samples of any marijuana sold at dispensaries to be tested for contaminants and levels of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive component of marijuana, among other things.
“This is a good thing,” said Richard Ha, who heads Lau Ola, one of the two companies set to open Hawaii Island’s first dispensaries. “And I’ve got to side with the Department of Health for being careful. It’s frustrating to a lot of folks, but in the final analysis it’s important to do this right. … In the end, the fact they’ve worked through all the protocols is tremendously important.”
Monday’s announcement won’t necessarily impact Lau Ola’s plans, which is currently targeting an April 2018 opening, Ha said.
Hawaiian Ethos — Hawaii Island’s other dispensary company — also has not begun growing, DOH spokeswoman Janice Okubo confirmed Monday.
Throughout the state, however, others moved quickly almost immediately after the announcement.
Late Monday afternoon, Steep Hill employees were en route to Maui to pick up marijuana samples from dispensary company Maui Grown Therapies, Steep Hill CEO Dana Ciccone told the Tribune-Herald.
Ciccone said testing would take about four days. If successful, Maui Grown Therapies will undergo a “final walk-through” by the DOH and could open as early as late next week.
Steep Hill also is in communication with Aloha Green, a dispensary company on Oahu, Ciccone said.
Medical marijuana has been legal in Hawaii since 2000, but until 2015, when lawmakers passed a bill establishing Hawaii’s dispensary program, patients have never had a legal way to buy it. Historically, patients have had to grow it themselves or obtain it from a caregiver. Many instead turned to the black market.
On Monday, state Sen. Russell Ruderman, a Democrat who represents Puna, where a large number of medical marijuana patients live, called the lab certification announcement a “positive step but long overdue.”
Ruderman said he’s frustrated with “the large amount of red tape” required of dispensaries. He said he advised medical marijuana users in his district to be “very careful about signing up” to become patients until dispensaries actually open.
“Because I don’t see any advantages to it,” Ruderman said. “I know several who have been repeatedly raided by (law enforcement). … It’s frustrating for the medical marijuana patients who have been patient, and it’s frustrating at the Legislature that two to three years after we passed this we still don’t have dispensaries open.
“Ironically, I consider the black market a safer place to be than the legal medical licensee at this point in time. And its an absurd situation and I can’t wait until it changes.”
Lab certification is generally provisional for “the first couple years” Okubo said.
The DOH will conduct “periodic inspections to ensure all processes are working correctly,” she said, and the lab will become fully certified once the DOH has “enough proof or documentation they’ve met all the standards.”
Three labs applied for state certification, Okubo said, and the DOH is still accepting applications.
The certification also allows Steep Hill to test marijuana from patients and caregivers. Unlike dispensaries, however, patients and caregivers are not required to have marijuana tested.
Email Kirsten Johnson at kjohnson@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
