System to track state’s marijuana inventory, sales

The state Department of Health has signed a contract for a web-based, seed-to-sale medical marijuana tracking system, clearing one major federal requirement before dispensaries can legally open.

The DOH announced in a news release Friday it’s contracting with BioTrackTHC, a Florida-based company that bills itself online as “the leading cannabis seed-to-sale software.”

According to the release, BioTrackTHC will provide the state with “24/7 access to real-time data” of product inventory and sales information including:

• The total amount of marijuana at each production center in the form of either seeds or plants including all plants “derived from cuttings or clonings, until the marijuana products are sold or destroyed.”

• Total marijuana inventory at a given retail dispensary location.

• The total amount of marijuana product purchased by a patient or caregiver from all retail dispensaries in any 15-day period.

• The amount of waste produced during cultivation, harvest and the manufacturing processes.

The five-year contract will cost $239,000 in the first year, the release says, and $160,000 in each year remaining.

Up to 16 dispensaries could open soon in Hawaii, which will, for the first time since medical marijuana was legalized in 2000, give patients a way to legally buy medicine. Historically, patients have had to grow it themselves or obtain it from a caregiver.

The department issued eight dispensary licenses earlier this year, including two on the Big Island. Each licensee can operate up to two production centers and two retail dispensary locations. Hawaii Island’s licenses were awarded to former banana farmer Richard Ha of the company Lau Ola and retired Waimea attorney Shelby Floyd, who applied under the company Hawaiian Ethos LLC.