Hawaii’s medical marijuana dispensary applicants were hit with a last-minute request on Thursday which could push back the date to announce selections — originally slated for Friday.
Due to “delays related to the required fingerprinting and background checks of the applicants” the state Department of Health notified the 59 applicants vying for eight licenses Thursday evening that background checks and fingerprints need to be submitted by Tuesday, four days later, according to a DOH Friday news release.
Should applicants be unable to “comply with the short turnaround time or if the Department is unable to review the background check results when they are received, we may need to wait to announce the final selection,” the release said.
“We would rather have a good result than release the names prematurely just to meet an arbitrary deadline,” DOH Director of Health Virginia Pressler said in the release.
Spokeswoman Janice Okubo said Friday the department’s still targeting Friday. She wasn’t sure when the public would be notified, should the date be pushed back.
Background check and fingerprint requirements are written into state law. The DOH also said Friday one of the five panel members, John Fisher, had dropped out of the review process.
Once announced, licensees can begin operating July 15. Each license allows for two dispensaries and two production centers. The Big Island will see up to four dispensaries open initially — 14 people are vying for those two licenses.
Hawaii County applicant Denim Cretton, applying under the name Delta 11 Hawaii, inc., told the Tribune-Herald Friday he and the company’s primary shareholders had no trouble meeting the last-minute request.
“We were able to get it done, there are multiple locations nationwide (to get fingerprinted),” he said. “It’s a short timetable, but we were able to meet the timetable.”