Hawaii’s first two medical marijuana dispensaries have been approved by the Department of Health.

Maui Wellness Group, d.b.a. Maui Grown Therapies, and Aloha Green Holdings on Oahu were given the go-ahead to acquire and grow marijuana for medical products.

Other dispensaries on Oahu, Maui, and Kauai are scheduled for inspections this month. Dispensaries on Hawaii Island are expected to be ready for inspection later this year.

“Our staff has been working diligently to schedule and conduct inspections on multiple islands while completing training and testing of the seed-to-sale tracking system which is critical to all dispensary processes and required by law,” said Keith R. Ridley, chief of the Office of Health Care Assurance. “Today’s milestone is a major step forward, and the state and dispensaries have worked very hard to get to this point. There’s still much more work ahead as we take all the necessary steps to ensure safe products for Hawaii patients.”

The next stage will include the inspection and approval of retail dispensary locations, and integrating the state’s seed-to-sale computer tracking system with the existing patient registry system.

A total of eight medical marijuana dispensary licenses were issued in April 2016. Each dispensary licensee is allowed to operate two production centers and two retail sites for a total of 16 production centers and 16 retail dispensary locations statewide.

Each production center can grow up to 3,000 marijuana plants.