Nebraska Bill to Protect Doctors Who Recommend Medical Cannabis Fails
- Legislation protecting medical practitioners who recommend patients to Nebraska’s medical cannabis program was blocked after cannabis opponents introduced amendments, leading Sen. John Cavanaugh to withdraw the bill.
- Opponents disrupted the bill by adding hostile amendments that shifted its purpose, which Sen. Cavanaugh said undermined the goal of providing medicine to children.
- Despite Nebraska voters approving the medical cannabis program in 2024, the program’s implementation has been slow and limited due to a lack of participating medical practitioners and ongoing legislative challenges.
- The Nebraska Legislature recently passed the first related bill allowing the Medical Cannabis Commission to set industry fees and generate revenue for the program’s administration.
There will be no protections enshrined in Nebraska state law this year for medical practitioners who recommend patients to the state’s medical cannabis program after cannabis opponents stymied legislation by state Sen. John Cavanaugh (R), NTV reports.
Lawmakers voted to approve the proposal during early consideration. However, in subsequent discussions, medical cannabis opponents disrupted the bill with amendments seeking to change the purpose of the proposal.
With the added amendments, Cavanaugh ultimately pulled the bill from consideration, noting that “This bill no longer serves the goal of ensuring that kids get access to medicine.”
“Any of the amendments that have been filed on that bill are hostile and an attempt to hijack that bill and go against the will of the voters.” — Cavanaugh, via NTV
Nebraska voters overwhelmingly approved the state’s medical cannabis program in 2024, but the rollout has been slow and, for many advocates, disappointing.
Crista Eggers of the Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana campaign told KETV, “If there are no practitioners, there are no patients in this program.”
“What seems to be the goal of this is to make sure Nebraska never has a functioning program,” she said.
Meanwhile, the Nebraska Legislature last week approved the state’s first piece of legislation related to the medical cannabis program. That bill will allow the Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission to set new industry fees and raise revenue.