Retired Waimea attorney Shelby Floyd and longtime banana farmer Richard Ha will spearhead Hawaii Island’s first medical marijuana dispensaries, the state Department of Health announced Friday.
Companies led by Floyd and Ha were selected from a pool of 14 Big Island applicants and are among eight licensees statewide.
“We’re all very excited,” said Floyd, who applied under the company Hawaiian Ethos LLC. “In particular, because it’s a new potential economic driver for the Big Island … (and there are) opportunities on the scientific and medical side to gather information and to help people who really need help.”
Floyd, 71, is a Columbia University law school graduate who practiced for decades before retiring last year. She’s lived in Waimea for 15 years, where she practiced mainly real estate and business law. Hawaiian Ethos’ other partners live in Hawaii and on the mainland and include a real estate agent, an architect and several business leaders, she said.
Floyd said the company is focused on the “medical and scientific aspects of marijuana.” The company plans to collect patient information under the guidance of an advisory panel comprised of scientists and doctors.
“(The) panel will help us identify what information can be gathered confidentially from the experiences of the patients we serve,” she said. “And then, how to take that information and better provide medical marijuana to those people in need here on the Big Island.”
She said the company is looking to lease acreage in Kona and is eyeing potential dispensary locations in Hilo, Kona or Waimea. She estimated the entire medical cannabis operation could create about 50 jobs, though not all full time.
Hawaiian Ethos is aiming to open dispensaries this summer, contingent on how quickly building plans are approved, among other variables, she said.
“Our goal is to get dispensaries open as (close to) July 15 as we can,” she said.
July 15 is the first day dispensaries can start operating. Up to four dispensaries will open on the Big Island, initially.
Ha applied under the name Lau Ola LLC not long after announcing plans to close his Pepeekeo-based banana operations this year. On Friday, he was ecstatic to learn he was chosen, as he plans to provide jobs to as many of the 27 former banana farm employees as possible.
“(I’m feeling) many different emotions,” he said. “One of the first things being, this is such a huge responsibility with huge potential. So we’re really grateful.”
Ha said marijuana will be grown near the former banana planting house on about 40 acres of the 600-acre property. Remaining land will be used to grow sweet potatoes and dairy cattle corn on a rotating basis to prevent soil from depleting.
He hopes to grow in enclosed facilities using natural sunlight. He said the group is eyeing dispensary locations in Hilo and Kona and anticipates opening at the end of the year, at the earliest.
On Friday, Lau Ola already had an active web page.
The DOH is not releasing further details about those selected until licenses are actually awarded, spokeswoman Janice Okubo said Friday. That’s set to happen in about two weeks. Those selected must send in a $75,000 license fee within seven days, she said, or the DOH will consider alternative applicants.
The department also will release applicant scores in coming weeks, Okubo said. Applicants were ranked based on their ability to operate a business, their plan for opening a dispensary and proof of financial stability, among other criteria.
Hawaii legalized medical marijuana 16 years ago, but until last year, when the dispensary law was passed, patients had no way to buy it. Historically, Hawaii’s nearly 14,000 medical marijuana patients have had to either grow it or access it through a caregiver.
The law allows the department to award more licenses starting Oct. 1, 2017, “based on qualifying patient need,” though Okubo said there are no plans to do so just yet. Only one license can be issued per 500 patients who live in a county.
The DOH received 66 applications statewide. Those denied licenses include Big Island Realtor Hank Correa and actor Woody Harrelson.
Email Kirsten Johnson at kjohnson@hawaiitribune-herald.com
