Hawaii's governor has signed into law a bill to expand the rights of medical marijuana caregivers, allowing them to grow cannabis on behalf of up to five qualified patients rather than the current one, among other changes.
Gov. Josh Green (D) formally signed SB 1429 into law earlier this month. The purpose of the legislation, according to its introductory section, is to "maintain and clarify the multiple options currently available for qualifying patients to access a safe and legal supply of medical cannabis," including from primary caregivers.
In addition to increasing the limit on how many patients a caregiver can cultivate cannabis for, the new law also extends a state allowance for caregivers to cultivate marijuana for patients in the first place—a right that technically expired at the beginning of this year after lawmakers failed to amend a sunset date in prior legislation.
The governor signed an executive order in late December that has since protected caregivers from "undue enforcement" as the legislature worked to hammer out the policy fix.
Read more at Marijuana Moment