"I smoke when I wake up and before each meal," he said.

Rattner is to smoke medical marijuana to treat severe nausea.

"Medical marijuana enabled me to gain back 45 pounds," he said.

He can only have three ounces at a time. He said it's not enough to ease his pain.

"You'd need a backpack to carry it around," said State Narcotics Division chief Keith Kamita.

If a state House bill becomes law, patients could double the plants they grow to 14 and more than quadruple their stash to 14 ounces of ready to smoke weed.

Rep. Joe Bertram wrote the measure.

"You've got to have some backup because plant growing is not a for sure thing," Bertram said. "It's not like you can just go and get a half a pill or a new prescription."

Kamita's office oversees Hawaii's medical marijuana program. He sees big trouble if users get a green light to grow more.

"Maybe more robberies, more buglaries. If you're walking around with a bag this big you're a target," he said.

He said increased availability increases chances kids will be exposed. But Rattner believes medical marijuana patients who run out of pot run their own risks.

"If you get low and scarce and your harvest isn't there, where do you go, Black market?" he said.

But Kamita said you don't need 14 plants or 14 ounces. Today's marijuana is high in THC, the ingredient that produces a high.

"We have to remember that a lot of plants may fail," Betram said.

There are 4,200 licensed medical marijuana patients in Hawaii and one big controversy -- how much legal weed is too much or not enough?

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