Nebraska Regulators Approve State’s First Medical Cannabis Cultivators

The Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission on Tuesday approved the state’s first two medical cannabis cultivator license applications, Nebraska Public Media reports. The approvals were given to Nancy Laughlin-Wagner, on behalf of Midwest Cultivators Group, and Patrick Thomas. 

The approval will allow each to receive an offer of licensure to cultivate up to 1,250 flowering cannabis plants for medical purposes. The limit was included as part of the emergency regulations signed by Gov. Jim Pillen (R) last month – the first step in setting up the state’s medical cannabis program. Those regulations only permit up to four licensed cultivators in the state.  

The approved applications were one of four randomly reviewed by the commission. The other two applications were rejected by the commission – including one submitted by Crista Eggers, the executive director for Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana, which led the successful ballot initiative that enacted the medical cannabis reforms.  

During the commission meeting, Eggers said that she hopes “the individuals that receive these licenses are good people that have every intention of providing good medicine to the people of this state that so desperately need it.”  

“I do hope that we see some transparency with a matrix and things,” she said during her remarks, “so that all applications, all licensed applicants, have that information to go forward, so that they know how they scored.” 

Denied applicants can appeal the commission’s decision until October 23. 

The commission had missed the statutory deadline of October 1 to begin issuing industry licenses after the resignation of two commissioners led to a slowdown of the process.