As of the end of February, Hawaii had over 15,000 approved medical marijuana patients awaiting the opening of the first dispensaries. Roughly 16-percent more patients were approved in February than in January. The number of registered patients has steadily increased each month since September 2015.
Americans for Safe Access Big Island chairwoman, Andrea Tischler said, “It’s exciting but it’s also about time. It’s about time more people became aware of it and want to try (medical marijuana) and see if it works.”
The chairwoman believe that the increase in patient registration is due to the new dispensary law, according to Hawaii Tribune-Herald. Although medical marijuana was approved in Hawaii in 2000, there were no dispensaries available. Patients will soon have legal options for obtaining their medicine whereas they had to grow their medicine or enlist the help of a caregiver if they did not resort to the black market.
MUM Clinic physician, Charles Webb said, “(Previously) there were probably patients, (for example) on Oahu, who saw no reason to get certified since they couldn’t grow living in a condo. But, if there’s a dispensary, it would make sense to get certified so they can use their (license) to purchase at dispensaries.”
Webb did say that his practice has experienced more interest in patient certification. He also says that the program needs to make the application process easier and faster for patients. He expects patient registration requests to increase significantly once dispensaries open for business.