Big Island Grown (BIG) is a vertically integrated cannabis company based in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii County, on the Big Island of Hawaii, whose reach now extends to several islands in the archipelago, with plans to develop more wholesale trade as the market develops. In addition to its cultivation/production compound, BIG currently operates three medical dispensaries – in Hilo, Waimea, and Kona – and offers its Big Island-produced craft products to patients on the islands.

Cannabis Business Executive recently had the opportunity to speak with Big Island Grown’s co-founder and CEO, Jaclyn Moore, about the company, its history, mission, and aspirations, at a potentially historic moment in Hawaii’s sustained flirtation with adult-use legalization. SB3335, a bill that is still alive in the House of Representatives, “Establishes the Hawaiʻi Cannabis and Hemp Authority and Cannabis and Hemp Control Board within the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs to regulate all aspects of the cannabis plant.” It would be an understatement to say that SB3335 represents a profoundly different future for operators like BIG, whose own legacy includes land and people that have embraced plant medicine – including cannabis – for many generations.

“We have a really rich history,” said Moore of BIG’s origin. “We’re going on our eighth year from the time that the license was awarded, but Big Island Grown was co-founded by a team of traditional agricultural farmers, entrepreneurs, pharmacists, and legacy market veterans. So, what we have is this collaboration within our team that led to experience and being well-versed in local culture, being well-versed in the cultivation of high-grade cannabis, and also compliance.”

Like everything in Hawaii, place is a living character in whatever story is being story. “To put this within context,” explained Moore, “the Big Island itself has a very rich cannabis history that I would say has led us to make very important decisions, so I’d like to just touch upon the history of cannabis here for a moment. The Big Island is one of the most sophisticated and highest-grade legacy markets in the state.” There are articles I’m going back and reading now, especially as I’m listening to some of the opposition, and what they’re saying about the ‘gateway,’ and the importance of not regulating.

“Something that really piqued my interest,” she continued, “was an article from 1988 that showed that the DEA at that time uprooted 1.5 million plants in the state, and 1.433 million of those plants came from the Big Island, more than the two trailing states behind it. So, that is the operating environment and the legacy that we were born into as a company and as a brand, and it very much shaped our approach to what we’re doing and our focus on being the very best at what we do from a both a product and service standpoint.”

Island Vertical

A vertical operator in a highly regulated medical market, BIG produces all of its own products, with brands – Big Island Grown, Farmer’s Choice, Pakalolo, and Sun and Soil – that cover a universe of applications and methods of consumption available to patients now, and hopefully all adult consumers in the near future. These include flower (of course), an alluring variety of BIG-concocted concentrates (shatter, rosin, badder, etc.), a range of convenient cartridge-based options (live resin, live rosin, distillate, etc.), a tasty choice of sumptuous-sounding chocolate and gummy edibles (and tablets, capsules, and sublinguals), and a naturally neat selection of topicals and tinctures for patients, the sore-jointed, and many others in need of safe, alleviating products.

I had visited Maui many, many years ago, where I bought exceptional weed on the street in Lahaina. Could that have been Big Island flower I bought even back then? “This was really the breadbasket of high-grade cannabis for the state,” said Moore of her home island, “and at that particular time it’s very likely that that was the case. Having said that, Maui has a thriving homegrown community that’s been there for many, many years, But the truth of it is – and not to take anything away from what they’ve been putting out over the years – just considering the sheer amount of weight that was being cultivated here, it was going somewhere.”

Not that I would have known the difference, but that begs the question whether there are distinct differences or nuances between cultivars island to island? “Yes,” said Moore. “What’s interesting is that there’s a real focus now on resurrecting those Hawaiian heirloom strains and genetics. We even have a pheno-hunting program where we’re popping from seed and working with Hawaiian heirloom genetics and new school exotics, finding the unique genetics that have that throwback nostalgia and flavor, enhanced with incredible and distinct terpene profiles that we’re seeing with some of these strains.”

Are genetics from the mainland also introduced into the Hawaiian market? “Yes, absolutely,” responded Moore. “And to be honest with you, this is where I stick to my kuleana. We have an inhouse director of cultivation and genetics – someone I would call a sensei at this point – who does an incredible job of balancing the strain and menu offerings to make sure we’re hitting as many notes as we can. And this ties back to being one of only two medical cannabis dispensaries on the island, so we take it very seriously, and we do everything we can to provide as broad a selection of product offerings as we possibly can. We’re on our toes because we should be given the quality and the history of cannabis cultivation here and what’s out there already.”

Originally, there were 66 applicants for medical licenses, said Moore. “We were one of eight in the state, and one of two on this island,” she added. “Hawaii Island got awarded two licenses, Maui got awarded two licenses, Oahu got three licenses, and Kawaii was awarded one, and all of the licenses were fully vertically integrated. So, you had to become a jack of all trades, and completely self-sufficient in every way. This is pre-wholesale, which finally went through and was implemented about a year ago. And we were the first licensee to go inter-island and have now successfully completed inter-island wholesale deliveries with both Kawaii and Maui.”

In the interim, BIG had years of pure vertical integration. “For a really long time, we had to rely on ourselves, and knowing that we were one of two [operators], we had to provide as broad a range of offerings as we possibly could, or else people didn’t have to come in,” she noted. “So, there are all of these factors playing into why we’ve done what we’ve done, and to date, we’re still the only state-licensed hydrocarbon extraction facility in the state. That’s why wholesale is incredibly important. Patient access to products and product types and SKUs may not be offered within a dispensary, or even on that island, based on what they’re cultivating or creating.”

BIG was also one of the last licensees to start due to an arduous and time-consuming permitting process. “We were running up against a lot of roadblocks here in Hawaii County until we started to really understand the process,” recalled Moore. “We were able to open up three retail locations in 2019, which was great.”

And the state has a history of not rushing into anything, to say the least. “Hawaii was one of the first states to pass medical cannabis through the legislature back in 2000, but there was a significant delay of 17 years between the time that it passed as a medical program to where there was actual infrastructure,” said Moore. “Licenses were awarded through the dispensary system in 2016, and the law passed the year before, but for 17 years people learned to be very self-sufficient when it came to growing, and when it came to – I don’t want to say manufacturing – but certainly compounding and making their own medicine.

“That’s what keeps us on our toes in a good way,” she reiterated. “We are acutely aware that people don’t have to come in, so we do everything we can to serve them the best way we can with the highest quality products that we can so that they make that choice to come in. And what’s really incredible about our team is that we are a team of patients and caregivers, people that are passionate about it. You can really feel and experience that when you come into the shop, but it’s also a long-lasting impression when you’re opening up the packaging and you’re consuming the product. I think that we’re hitting as many of these quality points along the patient’s journey as we can.”

Is there a legacy of caregivers in Hawaii as well? “Absolutely,” said Moore. “In fact, there was federal intervention at the end of last year with one of the largest card-stacking caregiver grows in the state, out on the North Shore. Certainly, I feel bad for the patients if they were displaced, because ultimately it is about the patient’s rights, and I know that in some way they were serving their purpose, and I can appreciate that for sure. But I also think there’s a lack of regulation with caregivers, and when you don’t have some standards in place, we expose ourselves to federal intervention. That’s why compliance is so important to us. It’s the marriage of cannabis culture and compliance that allows us to function well and be able to sleep well at night.”

Banana Farm

Big Island Grown’s beating heart is a place that has lived several lives over the generations and now houses its cutting-edge production and cultivation facility. “I really just love the history here,” enthused Moore. “Our production campus is located on a former sugarcane plantation, and there’s infrastructure from the flume system they used to cut down the sugarcane, harvest it, and send it down to the coast onto the boats. It went from sugarcane to become the largest privately owned banana farm in North America, and then it became home to our cannabis production centers.”

BIG has decisively maintained the legacy of the location rather than ignore or replace it. “One of the most amazing things is that some of the original team members from the banana farms work with us now,” noted Moore. “That’s a really important part of what we’re doing, and the one thing that I am proudest of. What we’re doing from a workforce development standpoint is so incredibly important given the lack of opportunities here, and the fact that you have so many young people leaving for the mainland for other opportunities there. What I’m hoping lawmakers will see is the potential this has to actually have people born and raised here be able to stay here and sustain a life for themselves and actually thrive doing something that they love.”

Cannabis cultivation launched at the production center in 2018. “Because we had this experience of legacy growers and traditional agricultural farmers specifically on the Hāmākua

Coast of the Big Island,” recalled Moore, “we understood when we saw the district lab testing standards that growing the way we originally thought we were going to was not going to work. It led us down the path of building one of the most well-engineered cannabis cultivation production centers that you can find anywhere. The vision was to have something meaningful here in this community, and when federal legalization inevitably came through, we would actually still be left standing.”

Outdoor cultivation was not an option. “The law never allowed us to grow outdoors,” said Moore. “What we were going to do is retrofit some of the buildings that were used for the banana farm, but when we started looking at the lab testing standards, there was no way, given the micro-climate and environment here, that we were going to be able to do that. It became all about not introducing pests into the building. Our first phase was a 35,000-square-foot fully automated and environmentally controlled indoor grow, and we have just finished construction on hybrid greenhouses, so we’re doing both indoor grown in cocoa, and we’re also doing sun and soil grown using organic soil and amendments.”

Home grow is legal in Hawaii and closely linked with the caregiver community. “You can have up to 10 plants,” said Moore. “One of the bills going through the legislature right now (HB2443) defines how many plants per location, and my understanding is that if it passes, location will be defined as a TMK. Now, I don’t think anyone – and I’m talking about the dispensaries – wants to curtail or limit a caregiver’s ability to grow, and I think you’re going to see widespread support for a patient’s right to grow. But what we do have an issue with are these uncontrolled card-stacking operations that on their face look like caregiver situations when there’s more going on. But HB2443 is moving, and it will allow 10 patients per location instead of five, so that’s 100 plants, and my understanding is that it will cover 96 percent of current home grows.”

Big Island Known

In light of the Big Island Grown’s deep Big Island roots, I was especially curious to know what products it has become known for. “I think live resin for sure,” said an excited Moore. “Not only because we are the only state-licensed lab here, but because it is something that we’ve worked incredibly hard to get the quality up. People absolutely love the live resin, especially live resin cartridges, so that’s very big for us, and it is definitely something we’re known for.

“But I’m also going to say our flower,” she added suddenly. “When you look at the ratio of sales by category, our flower really holds up. Whether it’s indoor or the Sun and Soil, we are hitting the spectrum of flower consumers, because some people don’t want indoor, some people want sun and soil grown, they want that different experience. We’re doing everything we can to be the best at cultivating and manufacturing and extracting really high-grade products. Our team are patients, and if it doesn’t match up to something that they not only like but are proud of, we don’t put it out. So, I think we are equally known for our flower and our unique genetics, which goes back to our pheno-hunting program, and doing our best to find those cultivars that are unique to Big Island Grown. That’s been a commitment we’ve had for many years, and I’m actually very excited because we’re ramping that up right now.”

BIG’s three flower brands fill essential niche roles. “Farmer’s Choice and Pakalolo are our indoor grown flower,” explained Moore. “We put Farmer’s Choice in beautiful glass storage jars, and those are the top colas; we call it the ‘crip of the crop,’ so when you’re opening up an ounce, you only have so many nugs in there because they are just massive, and dense, and beautiful, covered in trichomes. It’s literally the best of the best. Pakalolo pouches are the same quality, just the flower on the lower parts of the plant. You have the same makeup, but there’s smaller nugs. That’s more of our value line, and we package it in compostable packaging. And then Sun and Soil is the flower that we grow in our hybrid greenhouse right now, and people are loving it.”

The move to wholesale last year only helped expand the opportunity for BIG to get its products in front of as many patients as possible, providing them with medicine they may not be able to legally obtain otherwise. “Remember, Kawaii has one dispensary,” she said of one of the island drops. “Everyone had a different take when they started, and people made different levels of investments. Some folks are waiting to be even cashflow positive to be able to expand their infrastructure, because [the market is] so anemic.

“We went forward from the beginning,” she added. “We went really hard, we took the time, we were very strategic, we were one of the last ones to open, and we knew that we were going to have to hit quality standards and hit product offerings to matter here. Kawaii was one of the first dispensaries that we worked with. They don’t have live resin, they don’t have the concentrates options that we have, and people really love the gummies. There’s like a universal appreciation for the fruit flavors.”

The anemic reference was specific to patient growth in the highly regulated medical market. “I would actually say it’s an overregulated medical program,” noted Moore. “People don’t want to be on a registry. Hunting, for example, is very big here, especially on the Big Island, and there is a conflict between being on the registry and being a 329-card holder, and then being a gun owner. So, there’s an issue there that hasn’t been reconciled, and there are other barriers, but the truth is that [cannabis] so widespread that for some folks it just doesn’t make sense to go and get a card because they don’t need to.”

Patient growth has been stymied over the years as a result. “Oh, it’s been absolutely anemic,” said Moore. “In fact, it may have flatlined or is even going down at this point, but it’s definitely anemic.” State data confirms the downward trend in 329 card holders. “It’s why we dig in as a brand and as a company, and why we’re very engaged in the community,” added Moore. “We’re developing partnerships with local farmers, local artists, local musicians, and doing what we can to enhance and contribute to a culture that people gravitate towards and are engaged with.”

They’re pulling out other stops as well. “One of the things we’ve done in the last 12 months is use fresh, locally grown, hand-pressed fruit juice for our gummy line,” said Moore. “This is how we are trying to work with others, because we absolutely love where we live and work, and the Big Island is such a special place. Agriculture is so deep here that it was one of the ways that we identified that when we work with the local farmers, patients absolutely love the formulations and the experience and the flavor profiles of the fresh fruit in the chocolate.”

I admitted a sweet spot at the very mention of Hawaiian-grown cacao. “It’s so specific,” said Moore. “It’s not even Hawaii State grown cacao. In every way that we can prioritize, we’re sourcing Big Island grown cacao for our chocolate formulations.” Count me in.

One item curiously not on the menu is prerolls. I had to know why. “Thank you for asking,” said Moore. “It was approved through the legislature last session. The Department of Health had the draft rules right when they had the wholesale draft rules to roll out, and for whatever reason, they rolled out the rules for wholesale and held back the rules for pre rolls. This year, a bill was introduced that sets a timeline for the Department of Health to implement and adopt rules after a product type or category has been authorized through the legislature, because it is taking so long.

“But I think you also have to take into consideration the 20-year anti-smoking campaign here in Hawaii,” she added. “This kind of goes against the grain in many ways that I can absolutely understand and respect, but the other side of it is the detriment to patients, the aunties that have rheumatoid arthritis and maybe that’s how they consume. So, why are we holding this back?”

The Winding Road to Recreational

SB3335 has moved through the legislative process farther than any such bill ever has, and as the comments during recent floor debate made abundantly clear, the issue is a front-burner issue that incites the passions of Hawaiian legislators no matter where they come down on the issue. I asked Moore, who is Legislative Chair of the Hawaii Cannabis Industry Association, about the campaign to bring adult-use to Hawaii.

“We’ve been a part of the trade association since its inception,” she said. “I work hand in hand with the chair of the association, Tai Cheng, the CEO of Aloha Green on Oahu. We work very closely with other dispensary members, and also other organizations, to champion this bill through to the best of our ability and provide enough information. I think one of the things that’s important with this bill is that, given the priority of Maui’s recovery, everyone is looking at the cost and the allocation in the appropriations of the bill. And one of the points we’re trying to make is that not only is this one of the only bills this session that provides a new source of tax revenue for the state, but there is a way to not even need appropriations if we can leverage the existing resources and experience of the Department of Health, formerly known as OMCCR (the Office of Medical Cannabis Control and Regulation), and SB3335 transfers the resources from OMCCR to this new cannabis control authority.”

But that’s not all, she added. “When you dig deeper, you see that there are 17 staff members, there’s a $3 to $4 million operating budget, there’s over $2.5 million in GET (general excise tax) that’s being collected from the current medical program, there’s over $2 million of revenue from the patient registry side, and then, when you look at the potential conversion fees – which we project to be about $2.5 million – and then you see what other states have been able to do with that same amount or less, it makes it even more feasible to be able to successfully launch a program without the huge price tag. That’s what we need to be able to convey!”

Is there a sense of what retail will look like in Hawaii if adult-use prevails? “It’s interesting because Big Island is very different than Oahu or even Maui,” said Moore. “The Big Island is very spread out, and you have concentrated shopping areas. With the adult-use law, you would still have the same kind of setbacks – 750 feet from a school, housing, playgrounds – and what we have also found is that a lot of folks don’t want to lease to cannabis company. So, for retail locations, I think it’s going to depend on what’s available.

“I’m going to let the cannabis authority decide how much retail is enough retail,” she added. “I hope that there’s such a thriving market that there’s enough for everyone, but I do understand that one of the biggest points from the opposition is that they don’t want retail locations on every corner. They don’t want it to be like Vegas, and they don’t want it in the neighborhoods. I think there has to be some level of sensitivity to that to make sure that we can make this work, where it is palatable for multiple members of the community to embrace the concept of access for all and having responsible adults consuming adult-use cannabis. I don’t know how that’s going to play out with the number of retail locations, and to be honest, I don’t know if it’s going to be based on demand. There may be more to it based on some of these other sensitivities.”

Pharmacist Grown

As briefly mentioned, BIG was partially founded by pharmacists, including Moore. “I actually graduated from the Albany College of Pharmacy,” she said. “I’m originally from New York. My mother’s actually from Colombia, my family moved to Jackson Heights, and my father is from Park Slope.”

But Moore has long since acclimated. “Even though I was born and raised in Queens, I am full on Big Island Grown,” she stated firmly. “I’ve been here for so long, I’m rooted here, thankfully, because it has been such an incredible blessing. I love where I was brought up, but I feel like I found me, and I found my spirit, here. and I just love it. I love it like I was born here. And one of the things that drew me here was the history of Hawaiian medicine – lā’au lapa’au. It’s been going on here for generations, and cannabis is just one sliver of plant-based therapeutics. In fact, the vision I hold is for Hawaii to be the Mayo Clinic of the Pacific for plant-based therapeutics. You would converge healthcare, AG, cultural practices, and tourism in a way nobody else is doing.”

Living in a pharmacist-based cannabis program in Connecticut, I was very curious to know if pharmacists are educated about the endocannabinoid system? “I graduated 20 years ago, and absolutely not,” said Moore. “But from the time that we opened up in 2019, we had an agreement with the local UH Pharmacy School based in Hilo to host pharmacy students and have been for years and years. In fact, we were one of the first folks, if not the first, to do so anywhere in the country. At one point, we had pharmacy students coming from the Albany College of Pharmacy, and I think you’re seeing more and more universities and colleges not only create programs, but certainly acknowledge the endocannabinoid system.

“But absolutely not when I was in school,” she repeated. “I didn’t even know it existed, and that was one of the things that really captured me. When I was looking at cannabis during the application process, I was familiar with cannabis, but I wasn’t familiar with the medicinal benefits or the science behind it, and it provided an opportunity for me to really dig in and understand not only the validity but its effectiveness as an opiate alternative.

“As a community pharmacist,” she continued, “I practiced in the same town here on the Big Island for so many years that I witnessed the cycles of somebody getting an opiate prescription for the very first time, seven or eight years later trying to wean off of them, getting on Suboxone, and finally getting off of everything. They hurt themselves, and they would come in and say, ‘What can I take,” and I would say, ‘Over-the-counter ibuprofen.” Just think about the position that we put these patients in. At that time, there was no recognized in-between or alternative, and cannabis is so incredible for that reason alone.”

It is yet another reason why attitudes in Hawaii need to evolve. “One of the things that I’m so passionate about is that we have a serious issue here when it’s still easier to get a prescription for opiates – a 10–15-minute wait – than it is for somebody to become a 329-card holder to be able to access cannabis in real time,” said Moore. “That’s why there is the push for access for all. That’s why legalization of adult-use is so important. You can call it anything you want, but what we’re doing is opening up access for adults to clean, tested, on-demand cannabis when they decide that it’s best for them for whatever reason.”

I noted that everyone knows that the vast majority of people standing in the adult-use line are there for therapeutic purposes if not medicinal ones. “How many times have I seen people creating over-the-counter cocktails because they just want to get a good night’s sleep, and they don’t want to take zolpidem or Ambien,” responded Moore. “They’re trying to get off the benzodiazepines, so they take a cocktail of melatonin, and I don’t even want to talk about cough syrup and all these other things. People just want a good night’s sleep.”

Did she think pharmacists should be required to take training on the endocannabinoid system? “Absolutely,” she said. “We’re at a tipping point where I feel like more and more people are embracing phytotherapeutics.”

Big Island Growth

BIG’s website leaves the impression that the company is interested in expanding to the mainland. “We are exploring opportunities now,” said Moore. “We definitely want to and are looking to expand into the mainland market in some way, especially with the fresh fruit and locally grown gummies. It’s something that we want to do but everything in good time. We’re looking to find partners that share our vision and passion.”

And if SB3335 doesn’t pass, what happens then? Will BIG and the others soldier on in the face of anemic patient growth, waiting for the next run at adult-use, building the wholesale business one bud at a time? “Who knows about next year,” said a pragmatic Moore. “But I think there are a lot of implications if this doesn’t go through. I don’t know if some of the licensees will be around. Between direct-to-consumer intoxicating cannabinoids that people can get through the mail and the amount of product and weight that’s coming in from California and all these other states, where they seem to have this excess, I think this is a critical window to do something about it, because who knows what this looks like in 12 months.

“If you care about the community and the kids, you have to double down on legal infrastructure, because it’s already here,” she continued. “It already exists. This is the opportunity to do something about it before it becomes too pervasive. And I’m not saying that it hasn’t even passed that point yet, but I do think that 12 months from now, it’s going to be a hell of a lot worse than it is now.”

In the meantime, she added, “I would say we’re better than most at really converting folks that are maybe 329-cardholders that hadn’t come into a dispensary. And also, with our efforts in the community and the natural networking connections that we have, what we’re finding is that even folks 55 years and older – which are 43 percent of card-holders – are like, ‘I’m using Tylenol every day, so I might as well try this.’ And from the cannabis naive to the connoisseur, we can hit it on all levels with product offerings. So yes, it’s anemic, but we focus on being us and connecting with people and educating people, and I think that really matters.”

And at the end of the day, it sounds as though the Big Island Grown team is exactly where it is meant to be, doing what it is meant to do. “I have such an incredible position to be a cheerleader for what we’re doing, and for our people,” she said. “67 percent of our directors were promoted from within, and 75 percent of our managers started at entry level. It’s because we’re vertically integrated that we are able to provide opportunities to local residents. I call it our sweet spot, their sweet spot. There are very few job opportunities here, so it’s something that I feel is so impactful, and it’s just one of the ways that we give back to the community. We are judged in the community by how we care for our team members, so it all comes back to us. Our best brand ambassadors come from inside, and it radiates out. That’s what the brand is like. It’s coming from within and amplifying out, and it’s something that I’m incredibly proud of.”