Aloha, everybody! Thanks to Hawaii’s medical marijuana reciprocity laws, they accept MMJ cards from out of state patients. The Gentleman has visited every medical cannabis dispensary currently open in Hawaii. And I have thoughts! Make that several. Prepare your listening eyes and butts for a direct-to-brain download, Neo! You won’t learn kung fu, but you will know everything I’ve learned about Hawaii dispensaries and exactly how to get weed in Hawaii.
You Need a Medical Card to Get Weed in Hawaii
The awesome thing about Hawaii is they have instituted a medical marijuana reciprocity program that accepts cards from any other state’s medical program in the US!
But only if you have one of the conditions allowed under Hawaii law- you can find that list here. It includes chronic pain, severe/chronic muscle spasms, severe nausea, PTSD, and another 9 conditions that you’ll find in most programs. So you’re probably good.
Wait, no, the awesome thing is how easy it is to sign up as an out of state patient to apply for their Hawaii 329 medical cannabis card! All you gotta do is fill out a quick form on their website, upload pics of my documents, and pay the $49.50 fee.
They ask that you sign up no earlier than 60 days prior to your trip. I signed up, like, two weeks ahead of my trip, on March 29. Approval email came in April 1. Bingo bango, baby!
Unfortunately for their many international visitors, Hawaii only accepts medical marijuana cards from the US for now.
Marijuana Dispensary Hawaii Info
Interesting points about Hawaii’s dispensaries you should know:
- The stores are completely vertically integrated by law. That means they must grow their own flower, process it in-house, and sell it from their own storefront.
- In-state Hawaii patients can grow their own cannabis plants (up to 10 at a time). That means they’re not locked into the retail system, which forces the shops to compete with their own patients. An elegant, if not entirely perfect, solution!
- You can’t legally travel with Hawaii medical cannabis between the different islands! You have to use what you purchase where you purchased it.
- It’s also freaking illegal to take pics inside a Hawaii dispensary. Yikes! So I don’t have any from the inside. I’m not that special just cuz I’m a weed jerk on the internet. Apparently.
- Hawaii’s thirteen open dispensaries are scattered on four different islands-Maui, Kauai, Hawaii (Big Island), & Oahu.
No Smoking in Public!
If you are thinking of publicly smoking weed in Hawaii, think again. Hawaii’s government is very anti-smoking and this extends to cannabis. They really don’t want you to smoke it in your hotel or on the street. Vaping is fine. Edibles are fine. Smoking on Oahu could get you in trouble. Same if you’re careless in Maui. Seemed more chill and easier to get off the beaten path in Kauai and Big Island.
Which Hawaii Dispensary Should I Visit?
If you’re on Oahu, you can find all my favorite stuff between NOA Botanicals and Cure Oahu. Aloha Green has the better deals- you can get 10% off there without having to spend over a specific threshold.
As far as best Maui dispensary I love Maui Grown Therapies enough to recommend them as a destination dispensary. Maui is less hectic than Oahu, too. If you just want to relax on the beach after enjoying some premium Hawaiian cannabis, Maui is the move.
If you’re traveling strictly for ganja, you can skip the other Hawaii medical marijuana dispensaries. But if you’re gonna be on Big Island or Kauai anyway, B.I.G. and Green Aloha will take decent care of you.
Best Weed in Hawaii (Flower Review)
- Maui Grown Therapies– their Royal Hawaiian was a real treat and I’m confident you’ll find more top-notch flowers to choose from. These growers know what they’re doing. One hundred percent.
- NOA Botanicals (Oahu)– their Honey Banana on its own merits would force a tie for the top spot, but I was less impressed with some of the other flowers I smelled.
- Aloha Green (Oahu)– their Forum Cookies x Memory Loss also smelled very nice once ground and was quite potent. I felt incredibly paranoid every time I smoked it.
- Green Aloha (Kauai)– their WiFi OG definitely meets the Gentleman’s standards and was very sticky with resin. Good potency. They just don’t have many to choose from.
- Big Island Grown– the Jillybean & the other one both turned out ok. Not amazing, but ok. The Jillybean turned my driver into an absolute chatterbox. Very nice guy. I paid him extra for not murdering me.
- Cure Oahu– the Kosher Wine strain I tried smelled decent and was super sticky. That’s good! But it was still wet and difficult to burn. What I could taste through the joint runs was alright, though. They only had that one flower.
- Pono Life Maui– the Maui Kush I tried smelled the least like hay out of all the samples. And it still smelled like hay. Plus it smoked harsh. I was not a fan.
The cheapest gram came from Big Island Grown. Not only was their Jilly Bean on sale for $10, the Lemon Kush was only $18, the lowest non-sale price. Highest was Pono Life at $24.
Even though I bought eighths at two shops, I confirmed their standard gram pricing falls between these two. FYI, Aloha Green has cheap sales like B.I.G.
Growing Cannabis in Hawaii
I love that medical patients have the right to grow their own medicine. That’ll keep the dispensaries honest until recreational hits. Then it’ll just be more profitable to deal with rich tourists, many of which are international travelers.
I’d really like to see these folks able to grow outdoors so we can get some tropical strains in! No Maui Wowie was a real bummer. Sounds like this could change soon.
Even then, humidity control is still gonna be a challenge post-harvest.
Hawaiian Weed Pricing
Pricing on the islands overall is high. There aren’t many deals to be had. I saw as high as $27 a gram for flower (Pono) and $100 for a gram of concentrate (Aloha Green). But pricing in Hawaii for everything is high.
Cannabis Hawaii Lab-Testing
FYI, every product I bought in Hawaii was tested by Steep Hill Labs. Another familiar face from home. And once again, I’ll point out that lab testing doesn’t catch marijuana defects like ammonia and hay!
Best Edibles in Hawaii
Traditional marijuana edibles are not available in Hawaii. They compensate in the same way Maryland did, with tinctures and capsules.
The logistics of my trip made trying edibles from every shop unfeasible. However, I can say beyond any doubt that the capsules I purchased from Cure Oahu were the most potent ingestible or edible I have ever tried.
t’s not even a contest. I was straight busted off of five capsules both times I tested them. The second time was before my flight home. I was out of my head before boarding.
Despite some congestion, I threw my head back and fell asleep effortlessly for the next three hours, rip-snoring with my jaw hanging open the entire time.
That’s how you assert dominance, friends.
If you like potent edibles, you definitely want to hit up Cure Oahu for caps. Good Lord. Wish I could have brought some back. It was $45 for 10 caps and they each tested at 13.9mg of total THC (and .02 CBD), so just under 140mg total.
Perhaps you prefer something mild and discreet? Aloha Green’s medicated Oral Spray was freaking awesome. It’s mostly THC, but has a little bit of CBD in it. 235mg of THC for $35 doesn’t seem too bad.
5-6 sprays had me grounded, chill, and shifted my brain out of neutral. And you can’t get much more discreet than breath spray, so long as you don’t stare directly at a cop while huffing it. Love love love this product!
Beyond that, the tincture from NOA Botanicals was rather ineffective (and gross, but neutral gross, and it didn’t burn). The capsules from Pono Life Maui didn’t do anything.
Best Dabs in Hawaii
Cheapest dabs I found were B.I.G. at $60 for a full gram, though I could have got a full gram of on-sale shatter from Aloha Green for $50 that was better quality. NOA was $38 for a half-gram, so $76 for a full gram- that’s your best value option. Cure Oahu’s lovely rosin was $45 for a half-gram, so $90 for a full. Standard price for Aloha is about the same.
- Cure Oahu– their rosin was was delicious, light in color, easy to handle. Perfect smell, delicious flavor, enjoyable buzz. An absolute delight. Selection was limited to 3 rosin types on my visit.
- NOA Botanicals (Oahu)– I picked up their Green Crack shatter. Very clean smoke, beautiful amber color, not much flavor. They had the widest selection of shatters and rosins of all the shops.
- Aloha Green (Oahu)– I tried a half gram of rosin and a half gram of sale shatter. They’re acceptable. Both tasted earthy, possibly too much fat left in the final product, but I wasn’t impressed with either. They had the second-widest selection. I’d go with the rosin.
Hawaii THC Topicals
Dispensary topicals aren’t cheap! Besides that, I need a situation to try them out to really review. As fate would have it, I was sporting a wicked sunburn when I tried the THC Body Lotion from NOA Botanicals. I had applied an over-the-counter aloe gel throughout the previous day, which helped.
But within five minutes of applying the NOA Botanicals THC lotion, a deep cooling sensation permeated the burned skin and provided long-lasting relief. I continued to use it even though I was in much less pain than I had been prior to the first application.
What If I Don’t Have a Hawaii Medical Marijuana Card?
Whether it’s time or money that may have prevented you from getting your Hawaii 329 card, all hope is not lost. For those looking for another route to purchase non-medical marijuana in Hawaii the Waikiki strip is a popular destination.
You can find local vendors that have recreational marijuana for sale, but the quality and price is not something I can speak directly about. And just to be clear, these are not licensed sellers, these are random locals that are trying to sell you weed on the streets. So purchase at your own risk.
Hemp Flowers & CBD
If you want CBD/hemp, you can find that everywhere. Smoke shops like Smokey’s carry lots of products, including hemp flower, and I even saw a spa advertising CBD massages in Waikiki’s upscale International Market.
Also, I got in the ocean like four times and wasn’t bitten by a shark once. I don’t know if I’ll risk five. Think I’ll just take the win. Aloha!