Fourteen Companies Apply for Two Big Island Dispensary Licenses

California State University file image.

A total of 66 applications for medical marijuana dispensary licenses were submitted during the Jan. 12 to Jan. 29 application period.

The Hawai’i Department of Health released the applicants Friday, which included 14 companies who applied for two Big Island licenses.

“All other information on dispensary applications is confidential as we move into the evaluation and selection process,” said Keith Ridley, chief of the DOH Office of Health Care Assurance.

For the past decade and a half, it has been legal for patients to grow their own medical marijuana with the proper permits, but last summer, dispensaries were legalized.

Fifty-nine separate applicants in total applied, some of which applied for licenses on multiple islands.

Thirty-two companies applied for just three licenses on Oahu, five applicants applied for a single license on Kauai, and 15 companies are looking to fill two licenses on Maui.

Big Island applications include the following:

• 11^th Street Parners LLC (Benjamin Partyka)
• ALOHA COMPASSIONATE CARE LLC (Barry Worchel)
• Big Island Compassion Solutions LLC (Henry Correa)
• Delta 11 Hawai’i Inc. (Denim Cretton)
• HANU MAKA AINA, LLC (Yale Ecklund)
• Hawai’i Agri-Health (Adel Etinas)
• Hawai’i Equity Partners, Inc. (James York)
• Hawaiian Ethos LLC (Shelby Floyd)
• Kai Consulting, LLC (John Morris)
• KMD LLC (Kellen Kashiwa)
• Kona Gold Wellness Center, LLC (Steven Black)
• Lau Ola LLC (Richard Ha)
• Makalapua Health LLC (Louis Romero)
• MAUNA KEA CANNABIS COMPANY L.L.C. (Katherine Hunter)

Review a full list of applicants here: Medical Marijuana Dispensary License Applicants

DOH officials said the license awardees will be announced by April 15, and dispensaries will begin dispensing medical marijuana no sooner than July 15 with DOH’s approval.