‘It's not over': Medical cannabis regs fail to advance from Nebraska legislative committee
LINCOLN — A legislative committee failed to advance a bill Thursday meant to help implement and regulate medical cannabis in Nebraska, leaving the sponsor and advocates on the hunt for a new path forward.
The General Affairs Committee stalled, voting 5-3 against advancing Legislative Bill 677 from State Sen. Ben Hansen of Blair. Senators tried to advance the bill as-is after none of the eight members entertained a motion on whether to amend the bill during continuing negotiations on how best to implement the overwhelming voter approval of medical cannabis in November.
Hansen, after the vote, described his legislation as 'a must' for 2025 to prevent the 'Wild West.' That's because without legislative action, the regulatory commission voters created with the ballot measure has no effective power or funds to regulate medical cannabis.
There is still 'some room' to come together, Hansen said, though the 'clock is ticking.'
'I don't want to shut all the doors right now, but some doors are closing, and they're closing fast, and so we have to act,' Hansen told reporters.
The lead spokesperson for Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana also said the fight isn't over.
Unless the committee reconsiders, Hansen faces a tough path to getting LB 677 into law, though the legislative rules do provide a path. He can file a motion — requiring at least 25 votes — to pull the bill out of committee. That would require scheduling by Speaker John Arch of La Vista, who has opposed medical cannabis in the past.
The bill would then need to advance across three rounds of debate and pass with at least 33 senators, regardless of a filibuster, because it amends legal language voters approved.
Ballot measures are self-enacting, and Nebraskans have legally been able to acquire up to 5 ounces of medical cannabis with a written health care practitioner's recommendation since mid-December, when Gov. Jim Pillen formally proclaimed the success of the measures and ushered the voter-approved language into law.
Hansen's bill, which has the support of organizers of the 2024 medical cannabis campaign, would further expand the structure for regulating cannabis through the new Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission.
Without state funds, officials have said it is nearly impossible for the commission to act or craft regulations, as required, by July 1. Hansen's bill would push back the deadline for regulations and licensing for more time to act.
The amendment that members of the General Affairs Committee negotiated with Hansen would additionally regulate cannabis through the state system's prescription drug monitoring system in addition to seed-to-sale tracking systems, according to a copy obtained by the Nebraska Examiner.
Acceptable forms of cannabis would include edibles, concentrates, ointments, transdermal patches or creams, nebulizers and vaporizer cartridges or pens. However, smoking would be prohibited, and no cannabis flower or bud could be legally sold.
State Sen. Bob Andersen of north-central Sarpy County said he completely disagreed with allowing vaping, pointing to increased youth drug use.
A qualified 'health care practitioner' would include only licensed physicians, osteopathic physicians, physician assistants or nurse practitioners, and practitioners could not recommend cannabis unless they have treated the individual for at least six months or if the physician primarily practices in Nebraska.
The committee amendment also would have limited 'qualifying medical conditions' to 15 ailments:
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
Autism with frequent self-injurious or aggressive behavior.
Cancer.
Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis.
Epilepsy or epileptic seizures.
Hepatitis C that causes moderate to severe nausea or cachexia.
Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS).
Huntington's disease.
Parkinson's disease.
Spinal cord injury or disease with residual neurologic deficits.
Terminal illness with a probable life expectancy of under one year.
Tourette's syndrome.
A serious medical condition or related treatment that causes severe nausea or cachexia.
Severe and persistent muscle spasms caused by multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injury or muscular dystrophy.
Severe or chronic pain lasting longer than six months that is not adequately managed, in the opinion of a health care practitioner, despite treatment attempts using either conventional medications other than opioids or opiates or physical interventions.
The amendment also would explicitly allow the Medical Cannabis Commission and Nebraska Liquor Control Commission, which consist of the same three commissioners, to share resources in carrying out the respective laws.
The governor would be able to appoint two additional members to the Medical Cannabis Commission, one of whom would need to be a health care practitioner. The governor already appoints the three members of the Liquor Control Commission, bringing the allowable total to five commissioners.
State Sen. Stan Clouse of Kearney said he wanted to allow the governor to appoint up to two more outside members, such as law enforcement or supply chain representatives.
State Sen. John Cavanaugh of Omaha, committee vice chair, said he wanted to ensure the physician appointee had human medical experience and wasn't, for example, a veterinarian. Pillen is a veterinarian, as is John Kuehn, a former state senator and one of the chief opponents to the medical cannabis laws.
Kuehn has filed two lawsuits seeking to void the provisions, the first of which the Nebraska Attorney General's Office joined and that the Attorney General's Office and Kuehn lost. Kuehn is appealing to the Nebraska Supreme Court. The second is ongoing in Lancaster County District Court.
Cavanaugh said he generally is against creating an ailments list but that the identified conditions were 'relatively reasonable,' though he wants post-traumatic stress disorder included.
Holdcroft said the list was created with input from the Nebraska Medical Association, including work led by former State Sen. Anna Wishart of Lincoln, who championed medical cannabis and was part of the past three ballot measures. Holdcroft said the association was strongly against allowing marijuana for PTSD.
On the ongoing litigation, Cavanaugh, a lawyer, said Attorney General Mike Hilgers and his office are giving advice to senators in ways that benefit the ongoing litigation.
'In this case, the attorney general is not representing the interests of the Legislature,' Cavanaugh told reporters. 'He's representing the interests of his office and I think this political agenda that he has continued to pursue before he was attorney general against the legalization of medical cannabis.'
State Sen. Jared Storm of David City, who has agreed with Hilgers and U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., to wait on any related medical cannabis legislation, repeatedly said during the Thursday committee meeting that Hilgers needed his day in court in front of the Supreme Court.
Storm brought his own bill, LB 483, to limit allowable cannabis to 300 milligrams — 0.21% of 5 ounces — and only allow oils or tinctures as acceptable uses.
Cavanaugh and State Sen. Rick Holdcroft of Bellevue, the committee chair, pushed back on Storm and said that the legal process had already played out once at the district court level, and Hilgers lost. Secretary of State Bob Evnen also placed the measures on the ballot, Holdcroft noted, and then voters weighed in. The AG's Office has threatened to sue if the cannabis commission begins licensing.
Holdcroft acknowledged that should lawmakers pass LB 677, it might end the pending appeal to the Nebraska Supreme Court.
Speaking with the Nebraska Examiner, Storm said waiting just a little while could put the legal questions 'to bed.' The Legislature is set to adjourn in June, possibly delaying action until early 2026, which could push any regulations more than a year down the road.
Storm told his colleagues that the ongoing lawsuits aren't Hilgers against the cannabis industry but the AG acting on behalf of the state. Holdcroft and Cavanaugh said voters had spoken.
'I'm all for helping people, and if this ballot initiative comes out that it's valid and accurate, then I'm all for moving forward to where we can help people,' Storm said. 'But I want to do it the right way.'
Hansen said, 'next session is not it,' and that lawmakers have the chance to act now.
Holdcroft, who opposed advancing LB 677 as is, said he, too, was a 'little disappointed' after the work to craft a committee amendment fell short. He said he felt the divide came down on smoking as a 'line in the sand,' while Hansen said he felt the flower and bud restriction was the breaking point.
Holdcroft said selling cannabis flower would be a gateway toward recreational marijuana, which Hansen heavily disputed. He has regularly said his bill has nothing to do with recreational marijuana.
'Right now, I don't see a way ahead,' Holdcroft told the Examiner.
Holdcroft said he hasn't heard anything of a pull motion yet, but he envisioned there could be a lot of pushback from conservatives in the Legislature. Hansen, who has often taken a Libertarian bent in the Legislature, is a Republican, as is Holdcroft.
Crista Eggers, executive director of Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana, told reporters that the campaign and supporters are no strangers to roadblocks, challenges and 'doors shut in our face.'
Still, she remains confident in crafting the safest and best medical cannabis program and said voters knew what they were voting on.
'This will not be the end,' she said.
To supporters, Eggers said she wants them to know that despite the hiccup, which both she and Hansen thought could be the outcome, 'we have every intention to keep fighting.'
'Giving up has never been an option. Being silenced has never been an option,' Eggers said. 'It's not over. It's not done.'
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