Politics
Nebraska Medical Marijuana Commission To Hold Public Meeting
Among Monday’s agenda items is a discussion on “research on flavorings, effects of cannabis use during pregnancy and smoking.”
By Zach Wendling, Nebraska Examiner
The Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission meets Monday for a general discussion of state laws and research around the medicine.
The commission has until October 1 to begin licensing medical cannabis establishments.
Monday’s meeting agenda doesn’t explain how close the commission is to releasing more permanent rules and regulations. Once those guidelines are released, commissioners would need to schedule a public hearing at least 30 days out. The agenda does include a section on general “rule updates,” as well as a plan to thank the public for various comments received by July 15 on the board’s temporary guidance for medical cannabis licensing.
Formal regulations would replace the emergency regulations that are in effect through September 28. They would need the approval of Gov. Jim Pillen (R) and Attorney General Mike Hilgers (R).
The temporary regulations can be extended for one 90-day period, if needed, though Pillen and the commission have said they would like to have formal guidelines in place by October 1.
The emergency rules and regulations, including application requirements, are available here.
Pillen approved the emergency regulations June 29, which immediately allowed the commission to begin accepting licensing applications for cultivators, product manufacturers, dispensaries and transporters.
However, it remains unclear where applications are supposed to be submitted.
Under the emergency regulations, those wishing to obtain a license would be prohibited from selling raw plant material; any product to be administered by smoking, vaping or combustion; any product with artificial flavoring, natural flavoring or coloring; a food or drink that has cannabis backed, mixed or otherwise infused into it; any hemp-based product or products with “intoxicating cannabinoids,” including delta-8 and delta-10 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).
Allowable products could consist of oral tablets, capsules, tinctures, non-sugarcoated gelatinous cubes, gelatinous rectangular cuboids, gels, oils, creams, suppositories, transdermal patches and liquids or oils to be used through a nebulizer or inhaler.
Among Monday’s agenda items is a discussion on “research on flavorings, effects of cannabis use during pregnancy and smoking.”
Pillen has said that three of his appointments to the Medical Cannabis Commission agree with him that Nebraska should not move toward recreational marijuana. At least two of his appointees have said they do not support smoking marijuana as an acceptable medical use.
Commissioners also are scheduled to have a general discussion on the voter-approved laws around medical cannabis:
- The Nebraska Medical Cannabis Patient Protection Act, approved by 71 percent of voters in November, legalized up to 5 ounces of medical cannabis with any health care practitioner’s recommendation. The law is currently in effect.
- The Nebraska Medical Cannabis Regulation Act, approved by about 67 percent of voters, created the Medical Cannabis Commission to regulate the medicine and begin licensing by Oct. 1.
Commissioners could also enter executive session Monday to discuss pending litigation, such as a lawsuit before the Nebraska Supreme Court seeking to invalidate the medical cannabis laws. A district court judge dismissed the case initially, though the Attorney General’s Office has already voiced intent to also sue the commission if and when it begins licensing.
The commission also now has a website, https://lcc.nebraska.gov/medical-cannabis, and email, [email protected].
Commissioners will also review the board’s operating budget and vote on whether to borrow funds from the Nebraska Liquor Control Commission for staff expenses. By law, three of the five medical cannabis commissioners come from the Liquor Control Commission. One of the group’s first purchases could be paying $108.68 for public meeting notices in the Omaha World-Herald and Lincoln Journal Star in June.
The use of such funds from the Liquor Control Commission remains murky.
Those dollars are derived from registration fees, server training fees and sales from the selling of the Liquor Control Commission’s rules, governing laws and other publications. State law allows those funds to be used for “administrative costs” from specific liquor laws, not cannabis.
The Medical Cannabis Commission meets at 1 p.m. Monday in the Meadowlark Conference Room on the lower level of the State Office Building in Lincoln, 301 Centennial Mall South.
This story was first published by Nebraska Examiner.
