Hawaii's Out of State Program Off to Slow Start

Hawaii's Out-of-State Program Off to Slow Start. When the Hawaii Department of Health finally implemented it's much anticipated Out of State (OSP) Program allowing visitors to Hawaii to get certified by providing a copy of their home-state medical marijuana card many people thought we'd see a lot more tourists/visitors accessing Hawaii's dispensaries. This however has not been the case. While dispensaries report fielding calls daily from mainland visitors enquiring how they can gain access to their medicine while visiting Hawaii, we've only had 533 OSP certifications since the program went live a couple months ago. So what's the hold up? Well to start with California visitors are Hawaii's largest group of patients and since California went recreational there aren't a lot of medical patients any longer. Add to that the fact that California law allows patient's to use medical marijuana in California with just a doctor's letter (which Hawaii doesn't recognize) and you soon see why not many visitors are qualifying for cards while visiting Hawaii. Arizona and Colorado make up the majority of our OSP certifications but maybe next year our legislature will ease the OSP requirements and allow California patients to access the OSP with their doctor's recommendation letters. Until then it's unlikely many visitors to Hawaii will be able to utilize our OSP for medical marijuana.