 This is St. Tech, Hawaii. Community matters here. I'm Marcia Joyner and this is Cannabis Chronicles, a 10,000 year odyssey. So tell me news of that plant of many resources, which wondered far and wide the ancient plant of food, fuel, fiber, cultivated for millennia. As we venture through the past 10,000 years, we will explore and discover the plant from which cannabis derives, the many uses of the plant, hemp, cannabis, ashes, cannabis and religion, cannabis and medicine, cannabis and dear old Uncle Sam. And so our odyssey begins. Today, our odyssey is not long ago and far away. It is current and in progress. It is needless to say an old dance with Uncle Sam. So here we are with a new generation, new thoughts, new ideas. Christopher Garth, who is on the verge of a whole new way of looking at cannabis, of dealing with cannabis, of cannabis as an industry in Hawaii. And so Christopher, may I call you Christopher? Please do. Christopher Garth. And let me read this so I get it right. The Hawaii Dismantry Alliance is a 501C6 membership organization that brings together Hawaii's patients, dispensary, related businesses and local communities. Did I get that right? That is correct. So, well, thank you for being here. It is such a pleasure. It is my pleasure to be here. Thanks so much. So tell us about Christopher. So I am Kanaka Maoli, Hawaiian, Chinese and Holi. I grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina, but had the great fortune of coming over to Hawaii two or three times a year as I was growing up from two months on until I relocated out here in 2004. My youngest sister is a Kamehameha grad. She was a boarder and came out to see her graduate and stayed, stuck around. It was time to come home. Yes. So now, and the Hawaii Dismantry Alliance is? Is exactly as you pegged it. It's a 501C6, a trade association, if you will. A trade association. Yes, ma'am. And as a trade association or a Chamber of Commerce, we're trying to pull together all of the varying interests around cannabis as an industry, as an opportunity for help or industry for business, and then ultimately encouraging the legislature to engage appropriately to green light this new industry. So many of the legislators are afraid of Jeff Sessions, the little elf. Well, he is. Come on, the little elf. You're like a shmigel, if you will, out of a golem. Yes. Out of the rings. Yes, a golem. I've got to remember that one. Well, no, we might have to apologize to the golems. Anyway. They may be offended. Absolutely. But now in 2006, the U.S. Supreme Court said that states have rights. By now, that hurts me to say states' rights. But states have the right to regulate their medical industry. Okay. So that's what they did in creating medical cannabis. But there are still legislators that are afraid. They're scared to take the next step. They don't understand what the Supreme Court gave them. How can you do that? How can you get them to understand, here is the law. The U.S. Supreme Court overrides Jeff Sessions, even if he doesn't know that. And yeah, we do have to apologize to the golems. Anyway, so how do you, because that's what you can do as a lobbyist. Well, I don't know that you're a lobbyist, but. Sure. I don't think that we need to apologize to the lobbyists. I am a lobbyist. No, I don't mean that. I'm just talking about the golems. But to get them to understand that they don't have to be afraid, that's the big issue. So, Marsha, that's a really good question. And as we, as you, as our allies in this fight for decades, have been attempting to encourage these legislators, oftentimes it falls on deaf ears. We provide them with the right information. We provide them with the right tone. It's all at their disposal, whether or not they have the time or the desire to read these resources or engage. No, I don't mean they can't. There were 3,000 bills presented to them this session. There's no way to read 3,000 bills. So if you're saying we gave them stuff to read, that can't happen. That's true. I don't want to make excuses for them. I'm just saying that realistic. I totally agree. So the 3,000 number is a bit of an exaggeration. 3,000 bills came through in this biennium. And to say that 3,000 just in this session is... No, the two years together. The two combined. That's correct. So we had about 94 cannabis bills collectively between the two sessions. And some of them were companions between either chamber. And some of them were strong bills. Others were for studies. And they ran the gamut. But in the end, as with every topic, legislative topic, we only see a few of them come through. How do we ensure that they're good bills? Or how do we ensure that the progress is there? Or how do we ensure that the progress reflects the rights that the state had been afforded? We've been doing our best. You've been doing your best. Our allies have been doing their best. But maybe depending on them to do the right job is no longer an option. There's an opportunity in this year with bringing the con con to the table. Constitutional convention could call for and allow a year-round legislature. That would make too much sense. It would, wouldn't it? Yes. Now, I'll give our legislators credit. They do the best with what they have. What they have. Yes. Absolutely. Absolutely. But the best with what they have in such a short amount of time, the 60-day sprint, doesn't do justice to their title, to their constituents, to the job that we demand. Like I said, we've been with this medical aid and dying for 20 years. That's the conversation you and I had in the phone yesterday. Absolutely. 20 years. And medical cannabis for going on 18. Yes. So we're just a hair behind. Yeah. That's simple. Either way, it is. And perhaps if we had gone for a full year-round legislature, we could have done this in maybe a third of the time. Who knows? Okay. Either way, we do have an opportunity with the Con Con to bring the discussion of a year-round full-time legislature to the table. Is the Con Con on this year's, to vote on this year? It is. It is. Every 10 years. That is correct. Is the Con Con going to be, is it going to be on the ballot? It will be on the ballot. It will be. Our Hawaii voters, the 40% of registered voters that go out every election, plus more hopefully will be encouraged to vote in the affirmative for a Con Con. Okay. What I'm saying is that, and my audience who knows this, of the 51 House members in the last election, 30 of them ran unopposed. And then you wonder why nobody shows up, why people don't vote. What is there to vote for? So the question for me as a political junkie, will you, because you've got something, a stake in this Con Con, will you be actively recruiting people to show up to vote, to be a part of this? Because that's the only way it's going to happen. I completely agree. And yes, we will. So not only do we have the Con Con though, there's another opportunity. We can, Hooli, 2018. And that is a slogan that is provided by, again, one of our partners. By Hooli in 2018, we can get new leadership in. And we've started the role towards that by creating a super PAC. What you four responsible cannabis use, or high four can, in short, is a super PAC dedicated to getting the right legislators attracted to the conversation. So. Are you talking about existing legislators or new people that are going to run for? Well, let's convince those that are currently in office that cannabis is a necessary platform consideration. And at the same time, let's bring new blood to the conversation to say, yeah, you know what, the incumbents position is valid, but it's not strong enough. So by creating this conversation, by demanding that the populace engage, that they ask their, the incumbent or their representative. How are you going to fund your project? How are you going to make my schools better? Where's that money going to come from? If it's not from cannabis, where is it going to be from? And by asking that one question, it gets in the candidate's mind. And the candidate hears over and over again. Adult use or therapeutic cannabis access is vital to me making Hawaii a better place. Now, one of the things I've learned from the people that have been in your chair right there is that cannabis is the best antidote, I guess it is, for the opiate addiction. That it is the simplest way to bring a person down from their addiction. And one guy told me it was the medication they gave him to kick the opiate addiction was worse. It was horrible. So if we really put a lot of energy into allowing people, the legislators in all to know that here is an antidote. Here is an opportunity for a lot less money than buying all of those drugs that we can assist our population to come off of that, the opiates. Sure. Yeah. Absolutely. And at the same time, if we could provide cannabis for therapeutic reasons, not just for medical, strict medical reasons, but for therapeutic reasons leading up to an event where someone is injured, there's significant value to that. And in the end, that would lead to a patient or an individual to not have to go on opioids in the first place. Exactly. So we're able to, in one course or another, avert engagement with opioids. And that's kind of the crux of this conversation. It doesn't need to be about medical, but what if we have therapeutic, what if we have availability through an adult use program? Because right now we have so few people registered as patients because of the limit of qualifying conditions. But if everybody wanted to try cannabis for X, Y, and Z, they should be allowed to. Well, what if you had arthritis and you had a cannabis or CBD or whatever that you could just as a topical, not ingest, but just for the arthritis? I mean, instead of buying all the heavy drugs for arthritis, if you could just... I completely understand. Unfortunately, access to those products is not allowed to the general public because of the strict legislation that has been passed by our delegation. I understand that there was an incredible push to maintain public safety. That makes sense. That's fine. But that comes from a very relatively ignorant perspective. And to keep people who could use cannabis for an arthritis situation because they don't have rheumatoid arthritis is unfair. It's exclusionary. We need to take a break. And when we come back with Christopher Garth, which is an interesting young man. Oh, God, I love young men. We will be right back. This is Think Tech Hawaii, raising public awareness. Ted Rawson here, folks. You're a host on Where the Drone Leads, our weekly show at noon on Thursdays here on Think Tech. We talk about drones, anything to do about drones, drones, remotely piloted aircraft, unmanned aircraft, whatever you want to call them, emerging into Hawaii's economy, educational framework, and our public life. We talk about things associated with the use, the misuse, technology, engineering, legislation with local experts as well as people from across the country. Please join us noon on Thursdays and catch the latest on what's taking place in the world of drones that might affect you. And we're back. And I am talking with a gorgeous young man. Ah, that's an old lady's hard good. Christopher Garth. And yeah, you can blush, that's all right. The old ladies get to do that. Making a brown man blush over you. Yes. But Christopher is the executive director of the Hawaii Dispantry Alliance. And they are doing lots and lots of work to promote medical cannabis, recreational cannabis. Is that the right word? Let's go with adult use. Adult use. I like that better than recreational. Adult use. Okay. Yeah. Let's do that. So, tell us about the organization and the educational component of your organization and if people want to join, how do they do that? Sure. Absolutely. So let's talk about the educational process. Okay. Well, education comes across in a number of different ways with a new industry. We're carving out a niche, so we need all of the professionals to engage and be knowledgeable about the industry, about the issues. We want to make sure that the doctors know how to register with the Department of Health. Right. We want to make sure that the doctors understand the health benefits of cannabis. Let's make sure that the doctors recognize the legality of engaging with cannabis and what they can do and what they shouldn't do. At the same time, Hawaii Dispensary Alliance was integral in allowing the attorneys in Hawaii to engage with cannabis licensees or attempted licensees back when the registration opened for applications in 2015. The Office of Disciplinary Counsel, the ODC for the Hawaii State Bar Association came out with a ruling that attorneys couldn't engage because it was a schedule one drug and therefore in violation of the Constitution. But we challenged the Hawaii Dispensary Alliance, challenged the ruling of the ODC, and ultimately we were able to shift their perspective and get rules changed that would allow these attorneys to engage. So providing this professional at the white collar level, professional information in education, the white collar level is something that we do. At the same time, encouraging maybe the green collar or the blue collar to engage by letting contractors and plumbers and electricians recognize the value that they hold in building out these cannabis structures or grow facilities or even the retail facilities, not to mention the production or manufacture facilities. Blue collar and green collar has a very critical role in making a successful cannabis industry. Beyond that, we want to make sure that those who actually touch the plant are engaged and know the information. One of our members is a trim ready, a group called Trim Ready, where they teach individuals how to properly trim cannabis, how to break it down, what to do with it, and what the laws are regarding the Hawaii's cannabis program. But then we even have to go further than just the professional or institutional education and impart knowledge to the general public that A, cannabis is safe. Maybe there's opportunity for them to get a job, but see that investing in a cannabis program at the state level, just by mere sentiment, greenlighting it, giving acknowledged credence to the program, that it has incredible return for their home or their streets, for their school, for their infrastructure, for their children's education. And then we can go even further and provide information on the medicinal or therapeutic value that cannabis can provide. Well, the CBD, I think that the state of Hawaii has 330,000 people on Medicaid, which means that every time the ambulance shows up, we pay for it. Correct. Just think of how much money they could save if they were allowed to use CBD on open wounds, which heals. I completely agree. How much money would they save? How much money would they save by using these inexpensive products? Well, they're not quote inexpensive, but when you look at what the ambulance has to carry and all of these items and what have you, which is why it's $1,000 per trip. Right. And that's what we pay. Taxpayer. Correct. Well, we're paying that for 330,000 people on Medicaid. If they were allowed to use these topicals, I'm not talking about ingesting anything, just topicals. Now, I recognize that the aging of Hawaii is going to see that number increase. But also let's consider that of Hawaii's patient population with respect to medical cannabis, 61% of our population, of our patient population, is over the age of 45. And that number is growing steadily. So our baby boomers and our seniors, while their recipients of Medicaid or perhaps Medicare continue to grow, they're already recognizing the value of cannabis. Now, interestingly, there was a study in Georgia that looked at numbers from states that had medical cannabis programs, thriving, robust, big business cannabis program, state-sponsored. And they found that on average, a state that had a well-regulated, well-rounded, rounded and robust medical cannabis program, that that state would save $150 million annually on Medicaid and Medicare costs. So why not open this up to more people? Why do we have to limit participation as a patient in this medical program? Can we not shift it to something more therapeutic? Can we not break down that stigma and that limiting factor that keeps people out? Now, at the same time, I ask, why can't we break down those barriers that allow other businesses to engage? To put out a different product, to put out a different quality or a different strength of product, to put out a different form of product from a different cultivar. The idea of taking this industry, Hawaii's medical cannabis program, and making it therapeutic or adult use, and not being so stringently vertical, tilting it on its axis and going horizontal, allowing for different retailers, processors, manufacturers, and growers to engage would severely benefit the cost. It would lower the cost and allow other patients to get what they need. Well, in North Carolina, there is a hemp university, and I hear from them regularly. Fantastic. Because it's exciting. They teach growing hemp from scratch, that's part of it, but they have the science, the technology, and all of these things in the curriculum. It's a regular accredited university, and that whole state is thriving because of it, of all of the exactly, and just think, if we had something like that, our students could think that they could grow into scientists and farmers and architects and all of these things, and then they could stay home. They could. They could stay. And that's just hemp. Imagine if you could open that up to hemp and cannabis. And cannabis. Absolutely. And they could stay home. We wouldn't have a brain drain. Brain drain. We could, and we have got to look at, since yesterday's over. Correct. It's over. We have to look beyond. And we have to go forward. The day of people just under a cloud of marijuana is over. The state in its infinite wisdom changed the word from marijuana to cannabis. Absolutely. Wonderful. All right, let's go with that. Let's keep going. Let's keep going. Let's keep going. That should just be a stepping stone along the way. We need to build the highway. We need the freeway. We need the express lane. Yeah, so we need a university. We do. We do. We do. We need to think that these children can grow with this industry. That they can think that I don't have to be changing beds in somebody's hotel. I don't have to be a bellhop or a tour guide. I can be something that I can dream. I can grow with the industry. And that's the beauty of creating this new marketplace. We have this wonderful opportunity. But I think that the transition starts at the ledge. Making sure that the right people get elected. That the community is having that conversation. That cannabis is integral. And that's why we're pushing hard for high four can. A way for responsible cannabis use the super PAC. Let's encourage our legislators to recognize the value of cannabis. Because your generation and my generation are already there. But it's the legislators. And I'll say this. It's the governor at the top who's holding us hostage. We need the right leadership in all of these political seats to make sure. Well, we've got three candidates for governor now. We do. We do. So I'll say that one of them. One of them is going to win. But so we need to nail each one individually, collectively, each one of them. We had, we need to know where they are and can they see. Not just the use of cannabis, but the industry. Can they see the long term and the impact it will have on the economy. I don't know the answer to that. And you're absolutely correct though. We need to test them. But I think that in. Throughout the tenure of this standing governor. We haven't seen the development or the progress that we've demanded that the public has needed that the program itself. Has needed with the Department of Health. There's been no backing. There's been no backbone. And because of that, we can only look up to the top. Well, yes. And I am. I'm going to get a rash of crap about this. But if we with. Governor E. Gay. Is. Dr. Pressler. They are joined at the hip. So if we can get rid of him, she goes and maybe the department looks better. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know the answer to that. I don't know the answer. But I know. I both know that we need a change in 2018. Change in that department. Because that's been the problem. With cannabis. You're correct. Absolutely. And not only that, but the attorney general at one point or another was providing information to the ledge, to the governor saying, we need to watch out for Jeff Sessions. And you and I both know, but that's not the reality. No. And so Doug Chen is a friend and he sat right there and I grilled him on. You know what the Supreme Court said. That overrides Jeff Sessions. Yes, ma'am. So, but he was okay. He was bless his heart. I'm going to miss Doug. We've been friends for a long time from city council days to now. Anyway, he's a nice guy, but what can I say? He admitted to his own bias that his parents said that it was a gateway drug. And he said, I have to admit that that's my own bias. But he sat right there and said it so everybody could see. And I said, well, we have to deal with your bias. But we do. We have to clean up his mess. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court says that the state has a right to do this. You're right. As well as the, the spending bill. Yeah. So, yeah. So now, Breloom and our is given credence to every well regulated state medical cannabis program. And yet we're still held hostage. Well, again, thank you so much for spending this time with us. And you will come back. Yes, ma'am. I will. It's an honor. I know that we've been trying to schedule this for a while. So thank you. Thank you. Aloha, and we'll see you next week.