Medical cannabis business owners in Hawaii are still waiting for regulators to certify laboratories to test their products, as the program infrastructure is in place but after more than a year sales have yet to occur, the Associated Press reports.
Helen Cho, director of integrated strategy for Aloha Green Holdings, said her dispensary in Oahu has cannabis stored and ready for sale. Maui Grown Therapies and Pono Life Sciences Maui LLC also have product ready for sale. Manoa Botanicals, another Oahu dispensary, indicated they are still cultivating plants which aren’t quite ready for harvest.
Cho said that Hawaii’s cannabis industry operators are becoming frustrated with regulators as companies are “continuing to spend money, but there’s no cash flow.”
“Every day we’re still operating a business, and on top of the overhead, cost of salaries, rent and utilities, every licensee is under some sort of construction,” she said in the report, adding that she is paying 30 employees. “We’re ready to go.”
Health Department officials are still expecting the state’s first dispensaries to be open sometime this summer but they want to be sure the cannabis supplied to patients is safe before they give a green light to the industry.
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