Small, white-colored outgrowths from a Maui Grown Therapies cannabis flower, known as Trichomes, can be seen inside the company’s Kula production center. The crystallike hairs contain all the active compounds of cannabis plants. -- Maui Grown Therapies photo

July 17 is the target date for Maui Grown Therapies to begin selling medical marijuana by appointment only to registered patients, pending certification of a testing lab in Hawaii and other state Department of Health approvals, a spokeswoman said Friday.

Medical marijuana dispensaries are beginning to open in Hawaii, but they're not allowed to sell their products.

Instead, the leafy medicinal greens they've harvested are sitting on a shelf unsold because nearly a year after dispensaries were legally allowed to open, the state has not yet certified any labs to run required safety tests.

That means dispensaries such as Aloha Green on Oahu have no income despite payroll, rent and operations expenses that top $100,000 a month.

"For us it's a little frustrating, having so many people on board, but it has to be done," said James H.Q. Lee, CEO of Aloha Green. "I'm more concerned for the patients, because people have been calling: 'We see it online, when are you going to open? We need our medical cannabis.'"

Marijuana dispensaries still have yet to make a single sale more than a year after Hawaii awarded its first eight medical marijuana dispensary licenses.

The dispensaries cannot sell the drug until the state Health Department certifies laboratories to test the quality of the marijuana, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported (http://bit.ly/2rsUXgG) on Monday.

Helen Cho, director of integrated strategy for Aloha Green Holdings Inc., says her Oahu dispensary has marijuana stored and ready to sell. Maui Grown Therapies and Pono Life Sciences Maui LLC also have marijuana ready to sell. A fourth company, Manoa Botanicals LLC, is growing pot but hasn't harvested it yet.

"We're ready to go," Cho said.

The term “medical marijuana” could soon be scrubbed clean from state law and replaced instead with the phrase “medical cannabis.”

Lawmakers passed a bill this year that requires the state to make the change in state statutes, Hawaii Administrative Rules and in all state Department of Health documents, websites and medical marijuana program materials. The bill is awaiting approval by Gov. David Ige.

Supporters of Senate Bill 786, which was introduced by state Sen. Mike Gabbard, D-Oahu, say the word “cannabis” is most appropriate and accurate. Bill language says the word “marijuana” “carries prejudicial implications rooted in racial stereotypes” from the early 20th century, when the drug was first criminalized in the United States.

The Hawaii Department of Health has deployed a live seed-to-sale cannabis tracking system in a cloud  environment authorized by the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program. 

The state is using BioTrackTHC's State Traceability System in Amazon Web Services’ GovCloud for its state medical marijuana program. While FedRAMP is a federal program, the authorization gives Hawaii's cannabis regulators the highest level of data security available and is also expected to increase the speed of the state's Traceability System, company officials said.

Most state legislatures reconvene in early January, and by February they’re in full swing, moving some bills forward and killing others in committee. This year 27 state legislatures are considering bills pertaining to cannabis in some form. (Well, okay: 26. Mississippi had two medical marijuana bills, but they’re already dead.) Some states are pushing full adult-use legalization. Others are pulling back on medical legalization measures adopted by voters last November. We’ll keep tracking them as they live and die. Most state legislatures adjourn by early June. Stay tuned.

Hawaii’s first two medical marijuana dispensaries have been approved by the Department of Health.

Maui Wellness Group, d.b.a. Maui Grown Therapies, and Aloha Green Holdings on Oahu were given the go-ahead to acquire and grow marijuana for medical products.

Other dispensaries on Oahu, Maui, and Kauai are scheduled for inspections this month. Dispensaries on Hawaii Island are expected to be ready for inspection later this year.