The legislative committee mulling how to help implement Nebraska’s voter-led medical cannabis laws awaits an amendment before lawmakers vote on whether to advance the bill.
Legislative Bill 677, from state Sen. Ben Hansen (R-Blair), seeks to help carry out the overwhelming voter approval to legalize and regulate medical cannabis in the state last fall. His bill would create a regulatory structure for licensing and detail how patients or caregivers could become registered to obtain up to five ounces of physician-recommended cannabis at one time.
State Sen. Rick Holdcroft (R-Bellevue), chair of the Legislature’s General Affairs Committee, said last week that he and seven other committee members were awaiting a final amendment that could help the currently deadlocked committee decide whether to advance the bill.
“The people have spoken, and we need to put in place the best possible regulatory structure,” Holdcroft told the Nebraska Examiner.
Hansen has said one key change in his amendment would be tracking medical cannabis through the state’s prescription drug monitoring program, similar to the process for opioids. At least nine states use a local prescription drug monitoring program to carry out local medicinal cannabis laws.
The Blair senator has also voiced support for defining a “qualifying medical condition” for which a health care practitioner may recommend the drug and requiring that a physician be required to be appointed to one of the two at-large spots on the Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission charged with regulating and implementing the laws.
The new commission automatically includes the three commissioners of the Nebraska Liquor Control Commission. Under current law, the governor has the option to appoint two more members.
‘The people have spoken’
Hellbound and Down 