(ABOVE VIDEO) Medical marijuana users explain how they are affected by Hawaii’s current law during Wednesday’s meeting in Hilo.

Video by David Corrigan

HILO, Hawaii – Medical marijuana users spoke out Wednesday night, as the state’s Medical Marijuana Dispensary System Task Force held its first public hearing in Hilo.

The Public Policy Center of the University of Hawaii at Manoa convened the meeting in order to help develop recommendations for the establishment of a regulated statewide dispensary system for medical marijuana. Without such a system in place – as testifiers explained – medical marijuana users are forced to break the law under Hawaii’s current rules. While its easy for them to be legal “green card” carriers who may be prescribed medical marijuana, they are on their own when it comes to acquiring cannabis.

One change in the law is already in the works. In January, the Department of Health will assume oversight of medical marijuana in Hawaii, a transfer away from the jurisdiction of the Department of Public Safety.

Medicine users hope it will bring an end to the law enforcement activity that they say continues to harass and terrify them. We spoke to Mike Ruggles of the Alternative Pain Management Club earlier this year at his Fern Acres home on the subject of the so-called “compliance checks”. Ruggles was at the meeting on Wednesday, but it was others who spoke out against law enforcement activity.

The focus of the meeting, however, was the possible dispensary system. There were plenty of ideas… here’s what testifiers had to say.

This page will be updated with a full report later this evening.