Just gonna throw my 2 cents in...as just another "haole" who came from the mainland / PNW to hawaii....the reasons people leave hawaii are obvious...its expensive, everything from beat up Toyota trucks being double blue book value to a loaf of bread, a hostile culture doesn't want mainlanders, the services such as mail, power, water, etc are all subpar, and the rain is insane, the poverty and the crime that go with it etc, and everything here is harder - from digging a hole to clearing jungle off your land. top if off with incompetent politicians and regulators, shitty education and shitty paying jobs....all push people off the island.
That said, it is a beautiful special place to call home, and i do believe those that are meant to be here will stay. And those that aren't wont.
Also - I think one thing many local hawaiians Ive met dont realize is the scale difference of the grows...Sure a lot of people here have a 20x20 canopy from ace and are growing some plants...but there are very few true farms producing hundreds of pounds a year consistently. Vs the mainland where there are thousands of farms all doing massive scale right in the open. Dont get me wrong - Hawaii has a strong cannabis culture, but compared to the west coast, the emerald triangle, southern oregon, etc, the numbers pale in comparison. Sure some of them are pushing trash, but many many many many west coast growers have given their life over to growing...and passion produces quality.