NO ONE CAN SMOKE MARIJUANA LEGALLY YET

The caption to The Advertiser's June 15 front-page photo depicting
someone smoking marijuana is wrong and irresponsible:

Tom Mountain cannot legally smoke marijuana yet. He must wait until we
establish rules for this program (we will be announcing a schedule for
public hearings soon).

Once the rules are in place, he must receive a written certification
for the use of marijuana for medical purposes from a physician
licensed in Hawai'i. And he can get such a certification only if he
has a debilitating medical condition as defined by the new law.

If he gets a written certificate, the physician must register his name
with our department. If he has a caregiver, the caregiver must also
register. We will then issue a registration certificate that will
authorize him to use and possess a limited amount of marijuana. Only
then can he legally smoke marijuana and only in certain places.

I urge everyone to fully understand the law and follow it responsibly.
The governor and the Legislature demonstrated real courage by enacting
this new law despite serious reservations from law-enforcement
agencies. We need to make this work.

Ted Sakai Director, Department of Public Safety