Hawaii awards licenses for pot dispensaries, but not to Woody Harrelson

By Marina Starleaf Riker, Associated Press

Friday, April 29, 2016 | 3:27 p.m.

HONOLULU — Hawaii awarded eight licenses Friday for medical marijuana dispensaries — but not to Woody Harrelson.

The actor was among nearly 60 Hawaii residents who applied in January to open the state's first medical marijuana dispensaries.

Dispensary applicants were required to have $1 million cash, plus $100,000 for each dispensary location. The Hawaii Department of Health, which awarded the licenses, must inspect facilities before they can open as early as July 15.

The law allows medical marijuana businesses to have two production centers and two retail dispensaries, for a total of 16 dispensaries statewide.

Six are allowed on Oahu, four on Hawaii Island, four on Maui and two on Kauai.

Hawaii became the first state to legalize medical marijuana through the legislative process 16 years ago. Under a law passed in 2015, the state could grant eight licenses.

Industry experts say Hawaii's medical marijuana businesses could be confronted with challenges unlike those in other states, such as navigating rules that ban inter-island transport and limit the number of growers.

They say the new Hawaii industry could also face problems such as the nation's highest electricity costs for indoor growing and a thriving underground market.