Source: mauitime.com
A dozen or so years ago, it was rumored that pakalolo-seeking tourists on Front Street were being sold bags of oregano. Meanwhile, locals knew how to get the stickiest bud–usually from a friend of a friend in Paia. Although Operation Green Harvest was winding down, the whir of any helicopter blades flying overhead would instill fear and secrecy in the island’s best weed purveyors.
I’ll admit it: I, too, drank the Prohibition Kool-Aid. I didn’t think pot was bad, I just didn’t necessarily think it did any good either. I thought marijuana was a pastime for hippies, a gateway to Cheetos for lazy people, a dopey supplement to the surfing lifestyle. When I left Maui in 2007, I swore I would never date a “stoner” again. Cut to 10 years later: I’m now living with a man whose family runs, arguably, the largest cannabis dispensary on the planet. Funny how life plays out like that.
In the past decade I’ve been exposed to the inner workings and evolution of a $7.7 billion industry, from the grassroots activism of small pot farmers in Northern California to gazillionaire “angel” investors looking to get in on the game. I’ve met legions of exhausted cancer patients, fighting for their right to a plant that could help them; desperate parents risking everything to alleviate the suffering of their severely epileptic children; soul-searching executives, looking for a more meaningful career or purpose; body-wrecked athletes relying on cannabis to soothe old wounds and heighten performance; too many people of color incarcerated for simple cannabis possession; women rising up to lead an industry in which they are no longer the minority; researchers, doctors and nurses all working to uncover cannabis’s multitude of therapeutic benefits despite federal resistance. I’ve sat in countless city council chambers, courtrooms, community town halls, political fundraisers, conferences, dispensaries, greenhouses and farms.
Eventually I realized how this one plant and the prohibition of it connects to so many facets of our society, many of which are broken systems, and yet cannabis has the potential to heal them all. With legalization and the end of prohibition comes the building of an industry that brings economic opportunity, taxes to fund education, medicine to heal people, reprioritization of law enforcement to focus on violent crimes, prison reform to release non-violent drug offenders, sustainable farming and building material, a community that is healthy and thriving. When it comes to cannabis what I’ve learned is that I’d rather be on the right side of history–the one that values compassion, science, sustainability, wellness and freedom.
How Now, Maui Wowie?
Mary Bailey is a young single mother in Haiku who works as a personal assistant and event producer. She likes people, and she loves Maui. She’s worked for a handful of nonprofits on the island, and for three years she managed the monthly community block party known as Makawao Third Friday. She hosts the annual Maui Yoga Festival, and regularly brings electronic music producers to Maui through her event production company, Alpha Agency.
Through friends and family, she knew that cannabis is a natural solution for people suffering from opiate addiction and PTSD. She also knew that Hawaii had issued licenses for dispensaries, and that those dispensaries were holding some small-kine educational events, but she never seemed to hear about them. The idea came to her about a year ago to launch the very first Maui Cannabis Conference (which runs Jan. 6-7).
“Maui’s a really forward-thinking place in general, and about all kinds of natural medicines and alternative therapies,” she said. “But we still don’t have a lot of education surrounding cannabis.”
She started telling friends about her idea. Those friends suggested other people–companies, industry leaders–and she reached out to them all, attending mainland conferences and summits teeming with potential speakers, sponsors and vendors. For her Maui event she booked the Hyatt Regency in Ka‘anapali to entice them. Then the obstacles came, sponsors began falling through, ticket sales were low, her savings was compromised. She stopped drinking alcohol to stay focused, working 60-hour weeks or more. “I don’t have time for hangovers,” she said.
In spite of the setbacks, Bailey powered on. She knew it was a worthy project regardless of how financially viable it was. She’s learned a lot. She’s racking up karma points. And she already feels like she’s educated people just by creating some conversation around cannabis.
“I didn’t realize, when I started this project, what my goal was exactly. I just knew I wanted to do it,” said Bailey. “I knew that somebody could do it, and I knew that I would do it the best. Then I realized one of my goals is to inspire Hawaiian residents to enter the legal cannabis business market.”
Money Changes Everything
The global cannabis market is currently estimated to be worth $7.7 billion, and projected to reach $31.4 billion by 2021, compounding as more countries embrace legalization. The U.S. cannabis market alone is forecasted to hit $24 billion by 2025, not including states that could adopt new cannabis laws before then. According to a 2016 Hawaii Dispensary Alliance report, Hawaii expects revenues up to $144 million in 2018, and provided the state successfully proceeds with a reciprocity system (which would allow Hawaii to recognize other states’ medical cannabis cards), could gain from visiting patients an additional $58 million in industry revenue.
“It’s important that Hawaii doesn’t wait too long to improve and make its medical cannabis program better, and then eventually, probably lead to adult use as well,” said Hawaii state Senator Will Espero, D–Ewa Beach. “I can see medical cannabis tourism and resorts one day being a niche market that Hawaii can do well in.”
Espero sees obvious benefits to the state–especially from the cultivation of hemp, and all of its derivative products. “Biofuel, construction material, clothing–wouldn’t it be great to have a line of aloha shirts made of hemp? Hawaiian hemp?” In early 2018 the state’s Department of Agriculture could begin giving out licenses to grow hemp via its pilot industrial hemp program, thanks to the 2014 Farm Act.
“We’re talking economic opportunities, entrepreneurial opportunities, hundreds of millions of dollars for our state,” said Espero. “But we need to educate our lawmakers, educate our residents, and lobby and advocate.”
While Hawaii was the first state to pass medical cannabis via the legislature, it fell behind the curve on dispensation of that cannabis, taking 15 years to implement dispensaries. Now some lawmakers are eager to reap the fiscal bounty that adult-use legalization brings.
“Governing is not cheap,” said Sen. Espero. “Many people have needs and desires–one way is to look at cannabis as a revenue source. Not the medical side, but the adult side. I can see Hawaii having that discussion, and then hopefully we’ll move forward on it without waiting another 10 years, and losing all the revenues and other job opportunities that we could be having for our residents.”
Espero will also be introducing legislation that would allow the University of Hawaii to partner and collaborate with the Department of Health to allow patients to share data regarding their medical cannabis use. He and other colleagues are pushing to get reciprocity up and running as soon as possible. He wants to see edibles in 2020. And he’s also working on one day being able to allow patients to get insurance reimbursements.
“Obviously we hope to have the best cannabis program in the nation in five years, definitely by 10,” said Espero. “I believe that we’ll eventually go to a horizontal system from the vertical system we have now, so that more of our local people can get involved in this industry. I want Hawai’i to be the leader in medical cannabis research one day as well.”
As Director of Community Relations and Patient Affairs for Maui Grown Therapies–Maui’s first dispensary that opened last year–Teri Gorman agreed.
“Hawaii has a long history of using plants for healing; there is every reason to believe that we could have one of the most successful medical cannabis programs in the nation within 10 years,” she said. “We hope to see the University of Hawaii’s John A. Burns School of Medicine become one of the leading American institutions to research the human endocannabinoid system and develop cannabis-based therapies for a vast range of conditions and symptoms. This type of leadership would naturally evolve into a new kind of medical tourism, incorporating integrative therapies unique to the Hawaiian Islands, that would replace disease management with natural strategies for enhancing health and wellness.”
Hemp is Hope
A project has just begun at the University of Hawaii to help develop hemp seed for Hawaii’s hemp farmers and entrepreneurs. Doug Fine–an investigative journalist, bestselling author and goat herder–is an affiliated researcher with that project.
“I’m really optimistic about hemp’s possibilities in Hawaii,” said Fine. “One of the things that Hawaii really has going for it is three planting seasons, which allows for a lot of development and a lot of production in one growing year.”
From working in Hawaii for several years, Fine said the islands’ farmers understand the value of hemp as a soil builder, and as a generative and lucrative crop. He’s now in the early stages of trying to coordinate a project that aims to increase the number of hemp farmer-entrepreneurs significantly over the next few years.
“One thing I’m going to try and bring [to the conference] is some real-world, in-the-ground experience of what it’s like to try and plant hemp and to market a farm-to-table product,” said Fine. “Because I think many if not most of Hawaii’s coming hemp farmers and entrepreneurs are going to be independent farmers and independent entrepreneurs. It’s no joke to launch an industry and to launch a project.”
Kihei resident Steve Rose formed the Maui Hemp Institute for Research & Development to set the groundwork for the hemp coming to the island and also to interface with small farmers. The institute runs educational programs about hemp, hosting several events around the island and serving as a conduit for the state’s legislators.
“We’re starting to get noticed–2018 is our big coming out year,” said Rose. “We’ll finally get some seed in the ground next year, and then we can start talking about really growing hemp on Maui.”
An herbalist for over 35 years, Rose has been studying the cannabinoids (the chemical compounds in cannabis that provide various therapeutic benefits) and endocannabinoid system–or the biological system comprised of cannabinoid receptors, found throughout the body. Rose believes hemp medicine is the big game changer, and that just eating hemp foods–which are high in Omega 3, 6 and 9–can dramatically improve health.
“We’re gonna do the cannabis conference to remind people that hemp is part of the cannabis family,” said Rose. “It’s the least-talked about here in the islands but eventually hemp will overshadow both medical and recreational marijuana, as far as the market share, in the next five-ten years. The first benefits are going to be for windbreaks and soil remediation–hemp pulls up all the heavy metals and breaks up the soil.”
He and his team of “hempsters” have models in place for hemp growing that would not only protect ground crops from wind, but would also enrich the soil for farmland. But until legislation and subsequent programs move into place, he waits. Like most of us, Rose wants cannabis to be legal at all levels as soon as possible, and to “just end this silly game and waste of money that we’ve done for almost 100 years now.
“My hope is that people wake up to what hemp’s about, what cannabis is about, and put the pressure on their legislators to make sure we get all the laws passed,” said Rose. “And then by 2020 we can just make the island green with hemp.”
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MCC SCHEDULE
SATURDAY, JANUARY 6, 2018
9:30am: Registration
10am: Marketplace Opens
10:15am: Opening Blessing & Welcome
- Makamae Murray
10:30am: Keynote Speaker 1
- Senator Roz Baker
11am: Keynote Statement
- Letter of support from Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard – read by Katie McMillan
11:10am: Keynote Speaker 2
- Andrew DeAngelo – Harborside Dispensary
11:45AM: PANEL 1
Cannabis in Hawaii 101: What are the basics of the state’s medical marijuana program? A discussion of patients’ rights, what’s legal to grow and possess, etc.
- Moderator: Shoshana Zisk, Counsel LLP
- Panel Members:
- Teri Freitas Gorman, Maui Grown Therapies
- Christopher Garth, Hawaii Dispensary Alliance
- Rebecca Gasca, Pistil & Stigma
- Tony Donnes, Pacific Cannabis Consulting
12:45PM: PANEL 2
The Gateway to Wellness: How can weed help me? Discover cannabis as a medicine — learn about medical benefits, the power of CBD and other cannabinoids, and how cannabis interacts with our bodies.
- Moderator: Sara Tekula, TedXMaui
- Panel Members:
- Anne E. Biedel, MD, Pono Life Sciences
- Wendy Gibson, The Medical Cannabis Coalition of Hawaii
- Keiko Beatie, NORML Board Member
- Kristin Wohlschlagel, RN, CHPN, National Cannabis Nurses Association
1:45PM: PANEL 3
“Out of the Shadows”: How do we talk about cannabis in the media after decades of prohibition and negative propaganda? The importance of telling patient stories and changing perceptions in our community and beyond.
- Moderator: Tommy Russo, MauiTime
- Panel Members:
- Samantha Campos, Harborside Dispensary
- Danny Keith, Cannabis Club TV
- Jordan Ching, Item 9
2:45pm: Keynote Speaker Doug Fine
Hawaii is Hemp Bound: How the Aloha State’s farmers and entrepreneurs can maximize benefit for communities, earth and the bottom line.
3:30PM: PANEL 4
Potrepreneurs in Paradise: How do I get involved? The potential opportunities of creating local cannabusinesses and a thriving cannabis economy in Hawaii.
- Moderator: Brian Zisk, The Future of Money & Technology Summit
- Panel Members:
- Tai Cheng, Aloha Green
- Miles Tuttle, Kush Bottles
- Wendy Robbins, The Marijuana Show
- Me Fuimaono-Poe, FNP-BC, Malie Cannabis Clinic
4:30pm: The Marijuana Show: Pitch Lesson
6pm: Marketplace Closes
8-11pm VIP Party: DJ Sweet Beets, Vince Herman, Fashion Show, The Grouch
SUNDAY, JANUARY 7,2018
9:30am: Registration
10am: Marketplace Opens
10am: Welcome
10:15am: Keynote Speaker
- Senator Will Espero
11AM: PANEL 1
Conscious Cannabis: Why it’s important to be a good ambassador as a cannabis consumer. The merging of cannabis culture, healthcare and social justice.
- Moderator: Andrew DeAngelo, Harborside Dispensary
- Panel Members:
- Richard Ha, Lau Ola Dispensary
- Tanya Johnson, Manoa Botanicals
- Adam Lustig, Higher Visions
12PM PANEL 2
The Green Rush: What are we buying when we buy legal cannabis? Everything involved in marketing and communicating cannabis for consumers/patients in a new, regulated industry.
- Moderator: Sara Tekula, TedXMaui
- Panel Members:
- Celeste Miranda, Cannabis Marketing Lab
- Jason Harris, Jerome Baker Designs
- Neil Juneja, Patent Attorney, Gleam Law
1PM: PANEL 3
Beyond Buds: The wide world of cannabis extracts, edibles, topicals and tinctures.
- Moderator: Adam Lustig, Higher Vision
- Panel Members:
- Jason King, The Cannabible
- Corey Thomas, Honey Pot Topicals
- B. Le Grand, Edibles Magazine
2PM: PANEL 4
Hawaii Grown: The latest in cannabis cultivation and sustainable farming.
- Moderator: Christian Hageseth, American Cannabis Partners
- Panel Members:
- Lawrence Brooke, General Hydroponic
- Michael Stevens, Meristematic
- Mark Rowland, Pono Life Sciences
3PM: PANEL 5
The Wonders of Hemp: A look at the environmental and economic benefits of the world’s most important, underutilized industrial crop.
- Moderator: Andrew DeAngelo, Harborside Dispensary
- Panel Members:
- Doug Fine, Hemp Bound/Hemp in Hemp
- Steve Sakala, Mana Artisan Botanics
- Bruce Bernstein, Ubix
- Steve Rose, Maui Hemp Institute
4PM: The Marijuana Show: Casting Call For Season 4
6PM: Marketplace Closes
For more info visit: Mauicannabisconference.com
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TICKETS
One-Day: $20
Two-Day: $35
VIP Party: $50
All-Access Pass: $75
To purchase visit Eventbrite.com/e/maui-cannabis-conference-tickets-38759638121
