At the same time, issues of cultural exploitation, religious freedom, traditional practice, and native intellectual property rights are absent from the debate, leaving the future of native practice hanging in the balance. Clinical studies advocating both sides of the safety debate have been published, as producers, marketers and users attempt to influence government action. There are several native traditions regarding the origin of awa in Hawaii. It is a shrub growing about four to eight feet high. In other parts of the Pacific it is known as Kava or Kava Kava. Moreover, they threaten the vitality of centuries of Native Hawaiian cultural practice. Awa is a canoe crop, one of the plants brought by the earliest Polynesian voyagers arriving in Hawaii. These actions have sent shock waves throughout Pacific Island communities seeking to derive economic benefit from a relatively new and little-regulated industry. Distribution: This is an indigenous plant native to tropical Africa, Asia as well as Hawaii. The flower clusters emerge umbrella like at the surface with many tiny spikelets (which contain the seed.) The margins of the leaves are very coarse and abrasive. In the United States (US), the Food and Drug Administration issued a consumer advisory leading several retailers to voluntarily withdraw products containing 'awa from their shelves. Description: A greenish blue rush with linear leaves 40-110 cm.

In 2002, however, the remedy was banned in several European countries, after case reports of liver toxicity allegedly associated with its nontraditional use surfaced. Traditionally prepared as a tea or tincture and used ceremonially for. In one study, the plant was even argued to possess chemopreventive properties, when cancer incidence and kava consumption in Pacific island communities were correlated. Awa is the Hawaiian name for the Polynesian medicinal plant many know as kava kava. The weekly Awa & ‘Ai nights offers guests opportunities to connect over locally sourced appetizers and ‘awa, Hawaiian for intoxicating pepper. It has traditionally been used for centuries in Polynesian culture primarily as a social and ceremonial beverage with therapeutic benefits. Marketed since 1994 as a dietary supplement, within seven years 'awa had earned the title of a 'superstar' and quickly became one of the top eight herbal remedies in an expanding $18 billion-plus herbal remedy industry. Kava (known as awa in the Hawaiian language) is a natural root beverage made from the dried and pulverized roots of the tropical shrub, Piper methysticum. In the late 1990s, 'awa attracted global attention as an herbal alternative to existing pharmaceuticals for reducing stress, anxiety, pain and assorted ailments. In the traditional practice of Native Hawaiians, 'awa (Piper methysticum) has long been revered as a medicine, a sacred plant central to religious ceremony, and a social drink.

Awa drink hawaii