Hawaii’s full legislature has given approval to legislation to amend the state’s medical marijuana law, sending it to Governor Josh Green for consideration.
Both the House of Representatives and Senate gave unanimous approval to House Bill 1082. The proposal was filed on January 3 by Representative Scott Saiki, and was sent to the governor exactly three months later on May 3.
The measure requires that written certifications for a patient with a chronic condition be valid for three years, and it “removes the requirement that a certifying physician or advanced practice registered nurse have a “bona fide” physician-patient or advanced practice registered nurse-patient relationship to certify that a patient has a debilitating medical condition.”
The measure also “Amends the definition of “manufactured cannabis product” to include devices that provides safe pulmonary administration, edible cannabis products, and pre-rolled cannabis flower products.”
It also allows “waiting rooms” within dispensaries, and allows “primary caregivers, qualifying out-of-state patients, and caregivers of a qualifying out-of-state patient to access the waiting room.”
HB 1082 also:
- Allows dispensaries to transport more than the limit of eight hundred ounces of cannabis or manufactured cannabis products to purchasing dispensaries within a thirty-day period if they receive prior approval from the Department of Health.
- Clarifies the types of medical cannabis products that may be manufactured and distributed pursuant to the State’s medical cannabis dispensary system, including adding “pre-rolled cannabis flower products”
- Clarifies that each day of a violation of chapter 329D, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is a separate violation.
- Amends the rule-making authority for dispensary-to-dispensary sales.
- Requires medical cannabis dispensaries, in conjunction with physicians and advanced practice registered nurses who issue written certifications pursuant to section 329-123, Hawaii Revised Statutes, to conduct the continuing education and training program required by section 329D-26, Hawaii Revised Statutes, rather than the Department of Health.
- Establishes a Medical and Adult Use of Cannabis Working Group.
Click here for the full text of HB 1082.
