Lawmakers, advocates mull medical cannabis regs to prevent ‘Wild West' in Nebraska
Crista Eggers of Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana, center, leads a news conference urging legislative support for bills to help implement a safe, fully regulated medical cannabis system. March 3, 2025 (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)
LINCOLN — The decade-long fight to secure a safe, regulated medical cannabis system in Nebraska could hinge on whether state lawmakers adopt legislation this spring to help implement the ballot measures.
Senators and advocates for medical cannabis urged the Legislature's General Affairs Committee to take action this year, before the laws take full effect by Oct. 1. The Monday push came one day after the urging of Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers and U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., to delay any legislative action in an op-ed published Sunday in the Omaha World-Herald.
Nebraska voters overwhelmingly approved legalizing medical cannabis in November to the tune of more than 71%, passing in all of the state's 49 legislative districts.
A second measure, to set up a regulatory scheme through a new Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission, structured similarly to and including the three members of the Nebraska Liquor Control Commission, passed with 67% support statewide, winning majority support in 46 of 49 legislative districts.
'The bottom line is the people have spoken: They want safe, legal access to medical cannabis,' said State Sen. Ben Hansen of Blair, who is sponsoring a related bill. 'It is our turn to act responsibly, establish clear and reasonable regulations and give the Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission the tools it needs to oversee this industry safely and effectively.'
Hansen said failing to do so would be 'reckless and a direct disregard for the will of the people.'
'We don't want the Wild West,' he testified Monday.
Medical cannabis advocates centered their push in favor of Hansen's Legislative Bill 677 and LB 651 from State Sen. Danielle Conrad of Lincoln, two largely similar bills with a few key differences.
Testifiers also pushed back on LB 483 from freshman State Sen. Jared Storm of David City, which would limit permissible cannabis forms to pills and liquid tinctures and reduce legalized cannabis from 5 ounces per person with a health care practitioner's written recommendation to 300 milligrams. That would be 0.21% of the voter-approved amount.
The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services opposed the Hansen and Conrad bills, as did the Attorney General's office. DHHS supported Storm's bill while the AG's Office took no position.
I think that we slow walk it and we get this right, because if we get it wrong, you let the genie out of the bottle, you're not getting it back in.
– State Sen. Jared Storm of David City
The Hansen and Conrad bills would delay the start of licensing marijuana establishments from Oct. 1 to after Jan. 1 in the new year. That's largely because the new commission — with no budget and no additional staff — is struggling in crafting the required regulations detailed in the ballot measures.
Hobert Rupe, executive director of the Liquor Control Commission, whose members are to oversee implementation of related regulations by July 1, said the current timeline isn't working.
Constitutional constraints limit ballot measures from appropriating funds and expansively detailing regulations, multiple testifiers said.
Rupe said the result is 'absolutely no way to do this job.'
Lawmakers propose regulations to implement Nebraska's new medical cannabis laws
Some impacts, he explained, are that the new cannabis commissioners have no funds to pay for a public notice to host a meeting on the regulations and also have no additional law enforcement to stand up the program. Whether legislation passes this spring, Rupe noted the new state agency would need to find its place in the state budget.
'I always look at this, they [voters] gave us the cinder blocks,' Rupe testified, speaking neutrally about the legislation. 'You guys have to do the mortar to put the cinder blocks together.'
In an exchange with State Sen. John Cavanaugh of Omaha, whose district had the highest support for the ballot measure laying out the regulatory framework, Rupe and Cavanaugh agreed the ballot measures might result in 'regulation by litigation' unless the Legislature helps step in.
Crista Eggers, executive director of Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana, a lead group that championed the ballot measures, told lawmakers that the Legislature has an opportunity to model its regulations after other states, learning from what went right and what went wrong.
Eggers is one of many parents who testified and has advocated for more than a decade for medical cannabis, running three different cycles of related ballot measures and repeatedly appearing at the Capitol.
'This is not only a reflection of the understanding and support for this issue, but a demand that we respect the lives of suffering people in our state,' Eggers said at a Monday news conference.
Shelley Gillen, a mother testifying for the Nebraska Families 4 Medical Cannabis nonprofit, said her family has been fighting for nearly 12 years. She said she and others have always fought for compassion, science and justice and the right of every patient to explore natural treatments 'without fear, stigma or legal barriers.'
'We strongly feel that no human being should have to suffer when relief is within reach,' she testified.
Storm said he brought his bill on his own behalf and determined the 300 milligram limit on the assumption of a two-week supply of about 20 milligrams per day, split between two doses. He and others pushed back on the 'Big Marijuana Industry' as similar to 'Big Tobacco.'
The David City senator said cannabis won't be 'zero sum,' and there will be negatives. Storm said he has sympathy for all those suffering but is focused on getting the regulations right.
'I think that we slow walk it and we get this right, because if we get it wrong, you let the genie out of the bottle, you're not getting it back in,' Storm said. 'So we slow walk this, do what's right, truly help people the best we possibly can.'
Eggers, Conrad and others said pills or tinctures might not work for some patients, and Storm said he is open to expanding allowable uses in his bill, such to creams, nebulizers and suppositories, but not to smoking in any form.
Storm sits on the General Affairs Committee. He joined a handful of committee members in asking about recreational marijuana and how the business models in the Hansen and Conrad bills could expand in the future, similar to how other states began with medical but expanded to recreational after.
Hansen, Eggers and others repeatedly pushed back and said that while legalized marijuana might be a future outcome, it is not the goal of the current legislation.
A fourth bill also considered Monday, LB 705 from State Sen. Terrell McKinney of Omaha, largely mirrors LB 677 from Hansen and LB 651 from Conrad. McKinney's bill also offers a path to criminal justice relief for people with past marijuana convictions and prioritizes families and individuals from communities harmed by the country's 'war on drugs' to get involved in the cannabis industry.
McKinney, who sits on the Judiciary Committee with Storm, said those factors can't be left out of the conversation.
'Without that, none of this makes sense,' McKinney said.
His bill was opposed by DHHS and the AG's Office and had one testifier in support, focusing on social equity.
Hilgers and Ricketts wrote that legislative patience 'will help promote a safer Nebraska and that senators should 'study the law and science of marijuana and slow down before acting on marijuana this session.'
Neither Hilgers nor Ricketts showed up to the hearing, but Hilgers' acting deputy solicitor general, Zachary Pohlman, appeared in his place.
Pohlman testified that legislative action should wait until pending legal challenges are resolved, such as in 2026, when he posited that 'the legal landscape will be clearer.'
I always look at this, they (voters) gave us the cinder blocks. You guys have to do the mortar to put the cinder blocks together.
– Hobert Rupe, executive director of the Nebraska Liquor Control Commission whose commissioners will serve on the Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission
Two cases have so far been filed in Lancaster County against the ballot measures, one of which continues at the district court level, filed in December. It argues the measures can't be implemented because of federal law. The other, filed in September, is now at the Nebraska Supreme Court, part of an appeal arguing the measures were fraudulently placed on the ballot.
The AG's Office had sought to invalidate the ballot measures, alleging widespread fraud.
Lancaster County District Judge Susan Strong rejected the allegations and is presiding over the second challenge regarding federal preemption. That case targets the campaign for the ballot measure, Gov. Jim Pillen, Secretary of State Bob Evnen, DHHS CEO Steve Corsi, State Treasuruer Tom Briese, Nebraska Tax Commissioner Jim Kamm and the Medical Cannabis Commission.
Pohlman, representing the state officials in that case, but not the commissioners, filed to dismiss the challenge in February, as did the sponsors of the medical cannabis ballot measures.
The new Medical Cannabis Commission members have until mid-March to respond to the preemption challenge. The first briefs for the Supreme Court appeal are expected this month, but there is no date yet for oral arguments.
Pohlman did promise the Legislature that should the Medical Cannabis Commission seek to license entities for medical cannabis, the AG's Office is prepared to sue.
'It's our view that we should let the legal landscape become much clearer before this body rushes into legislation and acts before we know what exactly the law looks like in Nebraska,' Pohlman said.
Hansen and Conrad said there is no legal uncertainty. Hansen said opponents were 'grasping at technicalities.'
'Opponents have filed multiple lawsuits and lost at every turn,' Hansen said. 'There's no reason to believe future challenges will succeed where others have failed.'
Hansen noted the federal government and President Donald Trump have voiced support for finding a legal path to marijuana, but he said Nebraska should still step up and that 'The idea that they're not going to do anything is not a gamble I'm going to take.'
State Sen. Rick Holdcroft of Bellevue, chair of the General Affairs Committee, pushed back on Pohlman, describing the legislative goals of the related legislation as issuing guidance to aid with implementation.
'What I'm hearing here … is the attorney general wants us to keep this law stupid, where he can find some loopholes in it and make it illegal,' Holdcroft told him. 'The Legislature just isn't that kind of body.'
Pohlman responded that he doesn't think the Legislature is 'stupid' or that the laws as written are 'dumb.' He said legislative action could prolong uncertainty and extend litigation.
Dr. Roger Donovick, executive medical officer for DHHS, testified against the Hansen and Conrad bills but favored Storm's bill, in part because it prohibits smoking as a permissible form of medical cannabis.
'DHHS maintains that cannabis is not a medication and does not agree with its legalization,' Donovick said.
A DHHS spokesperson confirmed Monday that in the three months since Pillen signed the ballot measures into law, DHHS has not issued any guidance, and there have been no complaints filed against practitioners related to the laws.
The AG's Office did not respond to a Monday request for comment on any guidance, if any, the agency had issued on the laws.
Multiple testifiers said they have illegally accessed medical cannabis to alleviate pain for dying loved ones or for family members who they said had no other medical options.
'Medical marijuana should be treated as a cure, not a crime,' Conrad said.
Grant Wistrom, a former football player for the Nebraska Cornhuskers in the 1990s who went on to the NFL with the St. Louis Rams and Seattle Seahawks, testified in favor of the Hansen and Conrad bills.
He said he has friends and teammates who were injured and, like him, were put on opioids to deal with health issues. He said for some, 'their life took a completely different path.'
'There is no healing with opioids, and the side effects that come with it are much, much greater than anythi
ng else out there,' Wistrom said. 'At the time, I knew that it wasn't good for me, but it was the only option available.'
Dominic Gillen told reporters that he and his wife, Shelley Gillen, have frequently gone to the Capitol with their son Will and heard remarks down the hall from senators or staff, 'Oh, here come those parents with sick kids again.'
He said the families were only asking for compassion and that he lives by a motto: 'Don't quit five minutes before the miracle happens.'
'I've always thought the final piece of this had to be the miracle, but, in reality, the miracle has been the 11 and a half years that have come to this point, where we have actually made progress to the point where we got the people to be able to vote for something,' he said.
'That is so important, and we're looking for another miracle now,' he continued. 'But the reality is we have to keep pushing for those miracles, because they're not going to be given to us.'
The committee took no immediate action on any cannabis-related bill.
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