Nebraska lawmakers continue deliberations over voter-passed medical marijuana law

Sen. Rick Holdcroft of Bellevue told the General Affairs Committee he wanted to narrow a bill (LB677) introduced by Sen. Ben Hansen of Blair this year to carry out the provisions of two ballot initiatives passed by voters last November.

“We’re going to get something out of committee, but I think we should make it as tight as possible and then allow the floor to bring amendments,” Holdcroft told the Journal Star. “But I would like to start with a tight bill.”

It could also result in a prolonged fight on the floor. Twice in the past week state lawmakers have sparred over the Legislature’s role in enacting laws that change voter-passed initiatives.

Hansen’s bill, as introduced, would allow doctors, physician assistants or nurse practitioners to recommend cannabis to patients using their professional judgment to determine that individual has a “qualifying medical condition.”

The bill also has provisions regulating how those patients can access up to 5 ounces of cannabis, creates a regulatory framework for various entities in the cannabis industry, mandates routine safety testing and imposes a sales tax, directing the revenue into property tax relief.

During an executive session Wednesday afternoon, Holdcroft said he would seek an amendment requiring health care professionals who recommend cannabis to their patients be licensed and practicing in Nebraska.

Holdcroft also said he believed the list of conditions for qualifying patients to be recommended cannabis was too broad under Hansen’s bill, adding he would prefer the committee set a list of six conditions before advancing the bill.

That would be less than Iowa, which allows for patients with 11 different “debilitating medical conditions” to possess and use cannabis, including cancer patients with severe or chronic pain, nausea or wasting syndrome; multiple sclerosis; epilepsy; or other ailments.

Other states have laws allowing more than 40 different conditions to be considered, including for ailments like Alzheimer’s disease, hepatitis C, menstrual cramping, sleep apnea and tinnitus.

The most common conditions included in medical cannabis laws, according to a handout shared by Holdcroft, include: cancer, epilepsy, HIV/AIDS, multiple sclerosis, chronic pain, post-traumatic stress disorder, Crohn’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, glaucoma and ALS.

Crista Eggers, executive director of Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana, said the bill brought by Hansen implements the language of both Initiative 437 and Initiative 438, both of which were supported by roughly seven out of 10 voters last fall.

Lawmakers had their chance over the past decade to pass a bill with limited medical conditions included, Eggers said, but did not act, leaving it up to the grassroots campaign to conduct a petition drive.

“This is what the people passed,” Eggers said. “They did not pass a watered-down bill. The people knew what they voted for; they were not misled, they did not misunderstand things.”

Eggers said Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana and other advocates worked with Hansen to draft LB677, which she said included reasonable regulations designed around ensuring patients could access cannabis in a safe, legal way, while also protecting the broader public.

That included allowing qualifying patients to smoke cannabis in their homes, Eggers said. For cancer patients with wasting syndrome, smoking may be the only way they can consume cannabis, she added.

Holdcroft asked the committee to consider adopting an amendment from Sen. Jared Storm of David City limiting cannabis consumption to pills or liquid tinctures — something Eggers said was a nonstarter.

“This legislation doesn’t need to touch and shouldn’t touch who is a patient, who that practitioner should be or how that patient consumes that medicine, which is what it is,” Eggers said. “We really thought what most people would want is putting some safeguards in place that make sense, and we tried in good faith to work together.”

The committee took no vote on Wednesday, Day 55 of the 90-day legislative session, but members indicated they were split on Holdcroft’s proposal.

Sen. Dan Quick of Grand Island said he supported Hansen’s original bill and thought the Legislature should avoid prescribing methods Nebraskans can use to ingest medical cannabis.

“If they want to smoke it, I’m on board with all of that,” Quick said.

Sen. Stan Clouse of Kearney said he still held reservations about LB677 and was still seeking the answers on how some parts would work in practice, but said he was optimistic the committee would find a solution that worked.

In particular, Clouse said he believed the word “inhale” included in the initiative did not necessarily allow for patients to smoke cannabis.

He also said he wanted to ensure the regulatory commission had expanded membership to include doctors, pharmacists, law enforcement and someone from the cannabis industry.

“We’re just trying to navigate the strong opinions on both sides of this issue to see if we can meet in the middle,” Clouse said. “It was voted on, so we also can’t ever ignore that fact.”

Hansen, the bill’s sponsor, said the Legislature had to balance several interests, many of them often in competition. 

The ballot initiative sponsors envisioned one set of qualifying conditions, voters may have envisioned something broader or smaller, and individual lawmakers may have all foreseen something different, he said.

“Everybody has this idea of what kind of conditions should be included,” Hansen said. “Whatever we find has to be something we can all say yes to — or at least 33 people can say yes to.”

Hansen said he hopes the disagreements over LB677 can be worked out during the General Affairs Committee’s deliberations in order for a “clean” bill to be advanced, rather than allow the bill to be subject to a filibuster on the floor.

“I think that’s what’s happening now,” he said.