Nebraska Bill Would Let Medical Marijuana Regulators Remove Patient Protections, Advocates Say

One senator said the bill would grant discretion and authority to a commission that “has already demonstrated that it is openly hostile to the will of the voters.”

By Zach Wendling, Nebraska Examiner

The Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission could be granted broader power to regulate patients, caregivers and health care practitioners than voters approved for it in 2024 under a new legislative bill.

Legislative Bill 1235, from the Legislature’s General Affairs Committee, would allow the commission to write regulations around the “Nebraska Medical Cannabis Patient Protection Act,” which 71 percent of voters approved in 2024. The law voters approved allows patients to possess up to 5 ounces of medical cannabis with an in-state or out-of-state doctor’s recommendation.

Voters, with 67 percent approval, created the Medical Cannabis Commission with a second ballot measure in 2024—the “Nebraska Medical Cannabis Regulation Act.” It gives the commission “exclusive” regulatory authority over licensed cannabis establishments.

State Sen. Rick Holdcroft of Bellevue, who is leading LB 1235 as committee chair and is carrying the bill on behalf of the commission, described the proposal as providing additional regulatory “structure” for the commission. Of the additional powers being proposed, he said he’s “not real familiar.”

“But, apparently, that’s a good thing to have, I mean, as a commission,” he said. “I’m not sure why that was left out of the referendum, but that’s about really all I know about that part of it.”

Holdcroft’s four fellow Republican committee members in the officially nonpartisan Legislature cosponsored the bill, allowing it to come from the committee rather than one senator. The committee’s three Democratic members did not sign on. The bill would need five votes to advance from committee.

Crista Eggers, executive director of Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana, which led the 2024 ballot measures, disagrees with Holdcroft’s approach. She said the bill is “extremely concerning” and would strip protections from patients who legally possess medical cannabis and consolidate power in a governor-appointed commission that advocates have pushed back against for months.

“This bill forces us to face reality that our own children and most others will have protections ripped away from them,” said Eggers, a mother who seeks access to medical cannabis for her 11-year-old son, Colton, who has epilepsy and severe seizures.

“Although there are some provisions of this bill that we would support, we do not believe this is a good-faith effort,” Eggers continued. “Currently, as written, we will seek to see it fail.”

‘Failing patients’

The commission has leaned toward a small, tightly regulated program. Regulators have so far gone through multiple rounds of temporary regulations.

Under the latest version of commission regulations, dispensaries could not sell smokes, vapes, most edibles and products with high tetrahydrocannabinol concentrations. Cultivators could only have so many flowering plants at once.

Physicians would need to sign up for the commission’s program and complete additional education to stay in. Patients would only be able to access commission-licensed dispensaries through one of these licensed in-state physicians.

Under LB 1235, patients and caregivers, as well as physicians, would need to pay an application fee and follow the commission rules if they want to legally possess medical cannabis in Nebraska at all. Nebraskans who turned to other states for the medicine in the meantime would legally be left behind.

The Holdcroft-led bill, by giving power over the Patient Protection Act, also could lead to more restrictions, such as limiting availability to people with qualifying conditions alluded to but not listed in LB 1235.

Eggers said families and advocates fought for patient and caregiver protections. Advocates have continued to push for similar protections for physicians because many patients have said that few, if any, Nebraska physicians have recommended cannabis since the laws took effect in December 2024.

Eggers pointed to those challenges and said the commission has been “failing patients and bowing to the political pressures from our governor and attorney general.”

Medicinal vs. recreational

The commission is still in the process of writing regulations. Three cultivator licenses have been issued, but regulators are still setting up a seed-to-sale tracking system before growing begins. Such a system would be provided under law and possibly funded via LB 1235.

The state is still likely months away from licensing dispensaries and hosting its first legal sales. Without the commission’s licensing system, cannabis can’t legally be purchased in the state.

LB 1235 would help the commission’s regulatory mission by allowing it to collect fees and fines. A funding mechanism has been an important component for Eggers, Holdcroft and other lawmakers.

Under LB 1235, medical cannabis could also be subject to sales taxes, at a statewide rate of 5.5 cents per $1. The proceeds would go to property tax relief.

The bill would also give the commission regulatory power over testing facilities for cannabis products. Regulators could hire a dedicated executive director, at a salary set by commissioners, and commissioners would be paid $12,500 each year, plus reimbursements for commission-related expenses.

Of the public’s concerns over the current commission, Holdcroft said the regulatory commission is what voters put in place.

Lawmakers declined to support an advocate-backed bill in 2025 seeking additional regulatory guardrails. Some senators hesitated, they said, in part to give the commission time to act first.

“I think the people voted for medical cannabis,” Holdcroft said. “I think most of the voices you’re hearing would like to see it transition more into a recreational piece.”

Eggers and other advocates say they aren’t pushing for recreational marijuana and that, under the committee bill, patients seeking medicine would be left behind. Supporters and opponents have both acknowledged that the gridlock might accelerate efforts to legalize recreational marijuana.

‘Respectful of the voters’

State Sen. John Cavanaugh of Omaha, committee vice chair, is one of the three Democrats on the General Affairs Committee who did not sign on to LB 1235.

He said the bill would grant discretion and authority to a commission that “has already demonstrated that it is openly hostile to the will of the voters.”

Cavanaugh said successful regulations would make medical providers feel safe in exercising their judgment, not feeling like writing recommendations would put them at risk. He added that voters created the commission as a “necessity” for a well-regulated industry.

“A successful program is respectful of the voters but, more importantly, respectful of the patients and the families of those patients who just want help,” Cavanaugh said.

Cavanaugh’s frustrations similarly led him to introduce LB 933, to explicitly give physicians protections, and LB 934, to make seats on the cannabis board elected. The election bill is also up for a public hearing Monday in Holdcroft’s committee.

Next week’s committee hearing will be at the same time the Medical Cannabis Commission meets. Asked about the scheduling overlap, Holdcroft said, “I don’t know. I don’t follow that.”

Physician protections

Holdcroft said he views the distinction between a “medicinal” and “recreational” program as the doctor-patient relationship. He said allowing the purchase of 5 ounces of raw cannabis flower, which he said could make 400 smokable joints, isn’t medicine.

Raw flower was a point of contention last year, and the 2026 bill would strike language saying “medical cannabis accessories” include equipment to smoke, vape, inhale or otherwise ingest cannabis.

“I don’t think that we ever envisioned smoking medicine,” Holdcroft said.

Holdcroft said he wanted the bill to preserve the ballot language around medical cannabis equipment and accessories. He said the proposed changes around smoking, vaping, inhaling and ingesting medical cannabis were inadvertently left in and that he would be bringing an amendment to change that.

State Sen. Stan Clouse of Kearney, who joined Holdcroft and the three Democrats on the committee to advance the 2025 bill from committee, before it failed 23-22, said he’s talked with physicians who say well-regulated, prescribed cannabis can be helpful. He said lawmakers need to be thoughtful and careful but should move forward.

He said giving the commission authority over qualifying conditions is “key” to the program’s success and that physicians need to have the opportunity to prescribe “as they see fit, not as we direct them to … if they believe that it helps.”

“They should not be refrained from doing that based on the risk of prosecution,” Clouse said.

‘The law of the land’

State Sen. Jared Storm of David City, another Republican committee member, led opposition to the advocate-backed bill in 2025 for additional regulatory structure. His opposition was also because of a pending Nebraska Supreme Court case over whether the ballot measures were properly on the 2024 ballot. A district court judge said they were, but the attorney general, secretary of state and a former state senator appealed the decision.

The case was argued in December and could be decided at any time.

Storm said adding a funding mechanism was a positive, “but I don’t want to see the bill get hijacked and have a bunch of stuff attached to it.”

Funding for the commission has also been contemplated in the state’s budget bills from Pillen, LB 1071 and LB 1072. Pillen’s budget proposal sets aside $1.75 million for the Medical Cannabis Commission through mid-2027.

Storm said he had no thoughts on the proposed expansion of the commission’s regulatory power. He said the bill was probably a little broader than it needed to be, at 28 pages but that the committee wanted a “placeholder” before the Feb. 2 hearing.

“If the Supreme Court rules it’s all valid, and we have medical cannabis in Nebraska, then that’s the law of the land,” Storm said. “But I want to see it stay medicine.”

This story was first published by Nebraska Examiner.

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