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Woody Harrelson Denied Hawaii Medical Marijuana Dispensary License

By Amy Feinstein
Published on: 06:04 PST, May 2, 2016

Woody Harrelson’s buzz has officially worn off, as he has had his application for a medical marijuana dispensary license denied in Hawaii, where he lives and has his primary residence. The government of Hawaii chose eight people out of just over 60 applicants, and Harrelson, although very prepared to take on the challenge with his company, Simple Organic Living, LLC, was not chosen.

According to the Inquisitr, medical marijuana dispensaries sell marijuana and marijuana edibles. But the issues that face the marijuana dispensaries are getting an accurate dosage of marijuana through your brownies, lollipops, cookies, and more. If a customer is actually trying to get a specific dosage, then edibles might not be the way to go.

Reuters is reporting that Woody Harrelson was really hoping to get one of the eight marijuana dispensary licenses newly available in Hawaii. Harrelson has been a longtime supporter of marijuana advocacy and is a board member of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). Last year, Harrelson went public with his application for a marijuana dispensary license in Hawaii.

The marijuana dispensary licenses in Hawaii are distributed with three in Honolulu on the island of Oahu, two on the Big Island, two on Maui, and one on Kauai. Although Harrelson had his marijuana dispensary license request denied, no reason was given as to why, but Harrelson should have access to a report in two weeks.

Vanity Fair says that the state of Hawaii has really “harshed the mellow” of Woody Harrelson, who was committed to this new business venture. Charles Bramesco of Vanity Fair claims that Harrelson wanted to get in on the celebrity marijuana business because “all the cool celebs are doing it.”

The board believes that they have chosen the eight best entities to be able to run a successful medical marijuana dispensary, and for now, Harrelson is not in the top eight. After he finds out why he wasn’t chosen, Woody Harrelson will be able to discover what he needs to do to be successful next time.

The Belfast Telegraph says that Woody Harrelson turned in his completed medical marijuana dispensary license application in January with the hope of being chosen by the Hawaiian government. A four-person panel reviewed the applications, including that of Harrelson, for certain criteria, including proof of financial stability, ability to comply with security requirements, and being able to meet patient needs.

In the next two weeks, Harrelson will know why he wasn’t chosen and in which category his scores were lower than those chosen. But for now, the companies that were chosen, and the locations are as follows, according to the panel.

“Aloha Green Holdings, Manoa Botanicals and TCG Retro Market 1 were selected to open dispensaries on Oahu. Hawaiian Ethos and Lau Ola were chosen for the Big Island, while Maui Wellness Group and Pono Life Sciences Maui were selected on Maui. One company, Green Aloha, was selected to open dispensaries on Kauai.”

Richard Ha of Lau Ola, who was selected to open a dispensary on the Big Island, is very excited about the prospect.

“It’s a feeling of huge responsibility and potential for doing good, so it’s lots of emotions.”

Ha believes that since medical marijuana dispensaries are new businesses in Hawaii, he is one of eight people responsible for getting it right from the launch.

“We’re really happy to participate in this, but we’ve got to do this right and we fully intend to do that.”

But Woody Harrelson is not the only big named business/person to be turned down for a dispensary license. The creator of Tetris, Henk Rogers, of Blue Planet Healing, was also turned down. Rogers, like Harrelson, is a resident of Hawaii and says that he will apply again. He hopes to be successful the second time around.

Applicants are required to pay a $75,000 licensing fee to Hawaii’s Department of Health within seven days of receiving written notice of their selection. If any of those chosen cannot produce the $75,000, then the next person or company on the list was chosen. Those chosen were required to have $1 million in cash plus $100,000 for each dispensary location. The Hawaii Department of Health, which chose the license recipients, will also be the board that inspects the dispensaries before and after opening to verify that everything is above board.

Why do you think that Woody Harrelson wasn’t chosen for one of the medical marijuana dispensary licenses?

[Photo by Joel Ryan/AP Images]

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