(a) No person shall operate a dispensary, or engage in the production, manufacture, or sale of cannabis or manufactured cannabis products, unless the person has obtained a license from the department pursuant to this chapter.
Attorney's Note
Under the Hawaii Revised Statutes, punishments for crimes depend on the classification. In the case of this section:
| Class | Prison | Fine |
|---|
| Class B felony | up to 10 years | up to $25,000 |
| Class C felony | up to 5 years | up to $10,000 |
For details, see
Haw. Rev. Stat. § 706-660Terms Used In Hawaii Revised Statutes 329D-6
- Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
- Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
- county: includes the city and county of Honolulu. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 1-22
- Department: means the department of health. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 329D-1
- dispensary: means a person licensed by the State pursuant to this chapter to own, operate, or subcontract no more than three production centers and up to two retail dispensing locations. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 329D-1
- dispensing: means the act of a licensed dispensary providing cannabis or manufactured cannabis products to a qualifying patient, primary caregiver, qualifying out-of-state patient, or caregiver of a qualifying out-of-state patient for a fee. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 329D-1
- Embezzlement: In most states, embezzlement is defined as theft/larceny of assets (money or property) by a person in a position of trust or responsibility over those assets. Embezzlement typically occurs in the employment and corporate settings. Source: OCC
- Enclosed indoor facility: means a permanent, stationary structure with a solid floor, rigid exterior walls that encircle the entire structure on all sides, and a roof that protects the entire interior area from any exterior view and elements of weather; provided that the roof of an enclosed indoor facility utilized as a production center pursuant to a medical cannabis dispensary license application or license renewal application submitted after January 29, 2016, may be partially or completely transparent or translucent. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 329D-1
- Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
- Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). Source: OCC
- Manufacture: means the preparation, propagation, compounding, conversion, or processing of a substance containing cannabis or its principal psychoactive constituent tetrahydrocannabinol, either directly or indirectly, by a person other than a qualifying patient, primary caregiver, qualifying out-of-state patient, or caregiver of a qualifying out-of-state patient for the qualifying patient's or qualifying out of state patient's use, by extraction from substances of natural origin, or independently by means of chemical synthesis, or by a combination of extraction and chemical synthesis, and includes any packaging or repackaging of the substance or labeling or relabeling of its container. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 329D-1
- Manufactured cannabis product: means :(1) Any capsule, lozenge, oil or oil extract, tincture, ointment or skin lotion, pill, transdermal patch, or pre-filled and sealed container used to aerosolize and deliver cannabis orally or by inhalation, such as an inhaler , nebulizer, or device that provides safe pulmonary administration, that has been manufactured using cannabis;(2) Edible cannabis products;(3) Pre-rolled cannabis flower products; or
- Person: means an individual, firm, corporation, partnership, association, or any form of business or legal entity. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 329D-1
- Production: includes the manufacture of medical cannabis products pursuant to this chapter. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 329D-1
- production center: means a farm or series of structures located within the same secured perimeter fence-line wholly owned, operated, or subcontracted by a person licensed by the State pursuant to this chapter as a medical cannabis dispensary that produces cannabis and manufactured cannabis products to supply cannabis and manufactured cannabis products to one or more of the retail dispensing locations of any licensed medical cannabis dispensary. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 329D-1
- Retail dispensing location: means an establishment owned, operated, or subcontracted by a medical cannabis dispensary where cannabis and manufactured cannabis are made available for retail sale to a qualifying patient, primary caregiver, qualifying out-of-state patient, or caregiver of a qualifying out-of-state patient. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 329D-1
Employment under this chapter shall be exempt from section 378-2(a)(1), as it relates to arrest and court record discrimination, and section 378-2.5.
(e) Retail dispensing locations shall not be open for retail sales before 8:00 a.m. or after 8:00 p.m., Hawaii-Aleutian Standard Time, Monday through Sunday.
(f) All dispensary facilities, including production centers and retail dispensing locations, shall be enclosed indoor facilities and shall maintain twenty-four hour security measures, including an alarm system, video monitoring and recording on the premises, and exterior lighting. A dispensary licensee that intends to utilize, as a production center, an enclosed indoor facility that includes a roof that is partially or completely transparent or translucent, as provided under § 329D-1, shall notify the department of that intention before altering or constructing the facility. Production centers shall remain locked at all times. Retail dispensing locations shall remain locked at all times, other than business hours as authorized by subsection (e), and shall only be opened for authorized persons.
(g) In all dispensary facilities, only the licensee, if an individual, registered employees of the dispensary licensee, registered employees of a subcontracted production center or retail dispensing location, employees of a certified laboratory for testing purposes, state employees authorized by the director of health, and law enforcement and other government officials acting in their official capacity shall be permitted to touch or handle any cannabis or manufactured cannabis products, except that a qualifying patient, primary caregiver, qualifying out-of-state patient, or caregiver of a qualifying out-of-state patient may receive manufactured cannabis products at a retail dispensing location following completion of a sale.
(h) A dispensary shall provide the department with the address, tax map key number, and a copy of the premises lease, if applicable, of the proposed location of a production center allowed under a license for a county no later than thirty days before any medical cannabis or manufactured cannabis products being produced or manufactured at that production center.
(i) A dispensary shall provide the department with the address, tax map key number, and a copy of the premises lease, if applicable, of the proposed location of each retail dispensing location allowed under a license no less than sixty days before opening for business.
(j) The department shall establish, maintain, and control a computer software tracking system that shall have real time, twenty-four-hour access to the data of all dispensaries.
(1) The computer software tracking system shall collect data relating to:
(A) The total amount of cannabis in possession of all dispensaries from either seed or immature plant state, including all plants that are derived from cuttings or cloning, until the cannabis, cannabis plants, or manufactured cannabis product is sold or destroyed pursuant to § 329D-7;
(B) The total amount of manufactured cannabis product inventory, including the equivalent physical weight of cannabis that is used to manufacture manufactured cannabis products, purchased by a qualifying patient, primary caregiver, qualifying out-of-state patient, and caregiver of a qualifying out-of-state patient from all retail dispensing locations in the State in any fifteen-day period;
(C) The amount of waste produced by each plant at harvest; and
(D) The transport of cannabis and manufactured cannabis products between production centers and retail dispensing locations and as authorized by subsection (r), including tracking identification issued by the tracking system, the identity of the person transporting the cannabis or manufactured cannabis products, and the make, model, and license number of the vehicle being used for the transport;
(2) The procurement of the computer software tracking system established pursuant to this subsection shall be exempt from chapter 103D; provided that:
(A) The department shall publicly solicit at least three proposals for the computer software tracking system; and
(B) The selection of the computer software tracking system shall be approved by the director of the department and the chief information officer; and
(3) Notwithstanding any other provision of this subsection to the contrary, once the department has authorized a licensed dispensary to commence sales of cannabis or manufactured cannabis products, if the department’s computer software tracking system is inoperable or is not functioning properly, as an alternative to requiring dispensaries to temporarily cease operations, the department may implement an alternate tracking system that will enable a qualifying patient, primary caregiver, qualifying out-of-state patient, and caregiver of a qualifying out-of-state patient to purchase cannabis or manufactured cannabis products from a licensed dispensary on a temporary basis. The department shall seek input regarding the alternate tracking system from medical cannabis licensees. The alternate tracking system may operate as follows:
(A) The department may immediately notify all licensed dispensaries that the computer software tracking system is inoperable; and
(B) Once the computer software tracking system is operational and functioning to meet the requirements of this subsection, the department may notify all licensed dispensaries, and the alternate tracking system in this subsection shall be discontinued.
(k) A dispensary licensed pursuant to this chapter shall purchase, operate, and maintain a computer software tracking system that shall:
(1) Interface with the department’s computer software tracking system established pursuant to subsection (j);
(2) Allow each licensed dispensary’s production center to submit to the department in real time, by automatic identification and data capture, all cannabis, cannabis plants, and manufactured cannabis product inventory in possession of that dispensary from either seed or immature plant state, including all plants that are derived from cuttings or cloning, until the cannabis or manufactured cannabis product is sold or destroyed pursuant to § 329D-7;
(3) Allow the licensed dispensary’s retail dispensing location to submit to the department in real time for the total amount of cannabis and manufactured cannabis product purchased by a qualifying patient, primary caregiver, qualifying out-of-state patient, and caregiver of a qualifying out-of-state patient from the dispensary’s retail dispensing locations in the State in any fifteen day period; provided that the software tracking system shall impose an automatic stopper in real time, which cannot be overridden, on any further purchases of cannabis or manufactured cannabis products, if the maximum allowable amount of cannabis has already been purchased for the applicable fifteen day period; provided further that additional purchases shall not be permitted until the next applicable period; and
(4) Allow the licensed dispensary to submit all data required by this subsection to the department and permit the department to access the data if the department’s computer software tracking system is not functioning properly and sales are made pursuant to the alternate tracking system under subsection (j).
(l) No free samples of cannabis or manufactured cannabis products shall be provided at any time, and no consumption of cannabis or manufactured cannabis products shall be permitted on any dispensary premises.
(m) Except as authorized by subsection (r), a dispensary shall not transport cannabis or manufactured cannabis products to another county or another island; provided that this subsection shall not apply to the transportation of cannabis or any manufactured cannabis product solely for the purposes of laboratory testing pursuant to section 329D-8, and subject to subsection (j), if no certified laboratory is located in the county or on the island where the dispensary is located; provided further that a dispensary shall only transport samples of cannabis and manufactured cannabis products for laboratory testing for purposes of this subsection in an amount and manner prescribed by the department, in rules adopted pursuant to this chapter, and with the understanding that state law and its protections do not apply outside of the jurisdictional limits of the State.
(n) A dispensary shall be prohibited from off-premises delivery of cannabis or manufactured cannabis products to a qualifying patient, primary caregiver, qualifying out-of-state patient, or caregiver of a qualifying out-of-state patient.
(o) A dispensary shall not:
(1) Display cannabis or manufactured cannabis products in windows or in public view; or
(2) Post any signage other than one or two signs, each no greater than one thousand six hundred square inches bearing only the business or trade name in text without any pictures or illustrations; provided that if any applicable law or ordinance restricting outdoor signage is more restrictive, that law or ordinance shall govern.
(p) No cannabis or manufactured cannabis products shall be transported to, from, or within any federal fort or arsenal, national park or forest, any other federal enclave, or any other property possessed or occupied by the federal government.
(q) A dispensary licensed pursuant to this chapter shall be prohibited from providing written certification pursuant to section 329-122 for the use of medical cannabis for any person.
(r) The department may authorize a dispensary to purchase cannabis and manufactured cannabis products from another dispensary in a manner prescribed by the department by rules adopted pursuant to section 329D-27; provided that:
(1) The purchasing dispensary establishes to the department’s satisfaction that:
(A) The purchase is necessary to ensure that qualifying patients have continuous access to cannabis for medical use; or
(B) The cannabis and manufactured cannabis products are for medical, scientific, or other legitimate purposes approved by the State;
(2) The selling dispensary may transport no more than eight hundred ounces, or other amounts with prior approval by the department, of cannabis or manufactured cannabis products to the purchasing dispensary within a thirty-day period;
(3) The cannabis and manufactured cannabis products are transported between the dispensaries for medical, scientific, or other legitimate purposes approved by the State; and
(4) Nothing in this subsection shall relieve any dispensary of its responsibilities and obligations under this chapter and chapter 329.
