“I became involved in the medical cannabis movement in Hawaii in 2011, after witnessing a family friend use cannabis to survive colon cancer.”
Clifton Otto, MD, has spent more than a decade advocating for Hawaii medical cannabis patients, with a particular focus on the conflict between state medical cannabis laws and federal controlled substance policy. His involvement began in 2011 after witnessing a family friend use cannabis while undergoing treatment for colon cancer. That experience led him to study both the medical cannabis research and Hawaii’s medical cannabis law, eventually drawing him into patient certification, legislative advocacy, and federal policy work.
In 2013, Otto began certifying Hawaii medical cannabis patients after seeing how difficult it was for many people to find physicians willing to participate in the program. The following year, he joined Hawaii’s Dispensary Task Force, where he pressed the state to address the federal legal barriers facing patients participating lawfully in Hawaii’s medical cannabis program. His advocacy contributed to a task force recommendation that the Hawaii Department of Health engage federal agencies regarding compliance with state medical cannabis law, an issue later incorporated into the framework surrounding Hawaii’s dispensary system.
Otto continued pursuing the issue through the Legislature. In 2021, he played a central role in advancing HCR 132, which called on the Hawaii Department of Health to seek a federal exemption for Hawaii medical cannabis patients. The resolution was adopted unanimously by both chambers of the Legislature. He later joined meetings of Hawaii’s Dual Use of Cannabis Task Force remotely and advocated for a similar recommendation. The task force ultimately recommended pursuing federal action to protect Hawaii patients.
Otto submitted comments during the federal cannabis rescheduling process and has participated in other federal proceedings affecting medical cannabis patients, including issues involving firearms policy. Across these efforts, his focus has remained consistent: patients following state medical cannabis laws should not lose rights or face federal penalties simply because of the treatment they use.
Otto’s work demonstrates how one patient advocate can stay with a difficult policy problem for years, build expertise, work through state institutions, and keep bringing patient consequences into conversations that might otherwise remain focused on statutes and regulations.
For more than a decade, Clifton Otto, MD, has made sure the consequences of federal cannabis policy for patients remain impossible to ignore. His sustained state and federal advocacy reflects what the Patient Voice Award is meant to recognize: patients and advocates bringing lived experience into the rooms where policy is made.
Cast your vote for Clifton Otto, MD, for the 2026 Patient Voice Award!
Learn more about Clifton Otto, MD:
Organization website: Cannabis Healthcare Hawaii
Hawaii Department of Health: Dual Use of Cannabis Task Force
Hawaii Department of Health: Dual Use of Cannabis Task Force Final Report
Hawaii law: HRS § 329D-25
Federal public comment: DEA cannabis rescheduling proceeding
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