STAY IN OR GO OUT?

Pakalolo'S Dilemma in Hawai'I

Ever since their installment in 2000, medical marijuana laws in Hawaii
were made to be broken--literally. Patients who acquire a license
("blue card") for medicinal use will find that dispensaries are
illegal in Hawaii, due to the federal Controlled Substance Act (CSA)
enacted in 1970. As a result, many legal marijuana users turn to the
street to buy the drug, which most likely came from an indoor growing
envoronment. Indoor growing has become prevalent throughout the US
because growers hide their plants inside and away from federal
marijuana restrictions, which make even the most legit user nervous.

The number of legal cannabis users in Hawaii has risen from 225 in
2001 to 8,000 users today. One hundred seventy-five physicians in
Hawaii are licensed to prescribe medical marijuana, an increase from
the 25 doctors in 2000. Big Island has the most medical marijuana
patients of the Hawaiian Islands, where almost 58 percent of state
medical marijuana certificates are attributed.

A licensed medical marijuana user in Honolulu, who wishes to remain
anonymous, gave the Weekly a tour of his closet, which he has
converted into a grow house. The small room is filled with fluorescent
lamps and a running vent systems, mimicking the plant's ideal
environment. He revealed that he learned how to construct and run
everything solely by reading books on the subject.

"The difference in my water and electricity bill when I grow is a
lot," says the planter. He says that luckily his rent covers water,
but his electricity bill sees a $300 increase. The jump was so drastic
that "[HECO] sent a technician to check [his] meter because they
thought it was broken." The cost prevents him from growing on a
regular basis, and he states, "I can't have a bunch of lights on
because I don't have the money to run them."

Recently, the board of water supply announced a 75 percent hike in
water prices by the year 2015, and growers say the increase in price
will inevitably drive up prices for medical marijuana.

The anonymous grower says he's heard of growers starting to work
without electricity in their systems by employing aquaponics and pumps
that run off solar panels.

So Why Do Patients Prefer the Indoor Stuff?

For starters, it's widely available. For growers, there are other
benefits to growing indoors, aside from being cloaked from exposure to
federal law enforcers. Indoor operations allow the cultivator to
control the environment, producing a plant of consistent strength.
Whereas outdoor farmers must work with the seasons, indoor plants have
climate control with ideal conditions 365 days a year.

Downfalls of growing outdoors include the need for security from
humans and animals and a potent smell that affects neighbors. Inside
growers can disguise the scent, and while free sunlight is attractive
to all growers, an organic cannabis plant can take as long as three
months to bloom.

Robert Jacob, the executive director of Peace in Medicine in Sonoma,
California, says that his customers do prefer indoor-grown cannabis
because "we've set up a culture of indoor-grown cannabis. The
illegality of cannabis has forced people to go indoors, and it's what
patients have become accustomed to."

David Barton, who works at the Jimenez-Ewa Beach Foundation Medical
Clinic says "there's no scientific evidence that indoor is better than
outdoor. It's folklore." He says that despite that, patients still
prefer the higher potency of medical marijuana. "Generally people
believe it to be true that different types treat different ailments
better, but there's no proof that's true. People find what they like
and stick with it. Everybody has their own individual response."

On the other hand, Jacob says that some patients find outdoor cannabis
tends to solve their ailments just as well as indoor. Others prefer or
need indoor because it can be more potent and treat specific ailments
more efficiently.

A co-owner of Hawaiian Herbal Health Center in Denver, Colorado, who
asked to go by "Shane," explains that "In Colorado, we don't have
outside organic growers because of state laws. They can only get one
harvest out of a greenhouse. Most people will grow indoors as a
result." Hawaiian Herbal sells strains like "Big Island Sativa," "Maui
Blueberry" and "Hawaiian Punch," all of which are indoor-grown plants.

Jacob believes "as we see cannabis take hold in the medical industries
we will see it move to outdoors, because there's a significant
reduction in cost and carbon footprint." His business now offers a
class that teaches patients how to grow their own plants using solar
panels to reduce their carbon footprints.

Dr. Evan Mills, a scientist with UC-Berkeley's Energy and Resources
Group, suggested in a report that dispensaries and "caretakers" (those
allowed to grow and distribute medical marijuana to patients) should
offer information about the different products regarding their
emissions and energy consumption.

How to make the medical marijuana business more eco-friendly may not
be a topic of debate in Hawaii for some time to come. In May, the
legislature killed a proposal that would have put dispensaries in
Hawaii under a five-year probationary period. While dispensaries are
by law required to be non-profit, the state of Hawaii collects about
$280,000 dollars a year in patient application fees alone. This month,
the annual application fee for medical marijuana patients was raised
from $25 to $35, and grower licenses can now be as high as $80,000.

"At the end of the day, it's a plant, and it should grow in fields...
Outdoors isn't where you make the most money," says Jacob. "But, for
growing, it's the most economical and ecological."