It’s not about what the people want. “This is going to make Nebraska more unsafe, and dangerous.”
By Zach Wendling, Nebraska Examiner
Nebraska Attorney-General Mike Hilgers’ (R) opposition to efforts by lawmakers to implement medical marijuana was intensified Wednesday. Hilgers paraded more than 12 law enforcement officials who supported his stance.
Hilgers, at a press conference, criticized the Legislative Bill, 677 from Ben Hansen, State Senator (R), of Blair. He claimed that this effort to create a regulatory structure around medical marijuana, which was approved by voters, is nothing but a pathway to recreational cannabis, and that it would “supercharge” the black market.
In a similar vein to what he said earlier this year, he asked lawmakers not to act until after January as he continued his legal challenges against the laws passed by voters in November.
Hilgers joined by other sheriffs in saying that LB677 isn’t about the people. It will only make Nebraska safer and more dangerous. The good people in the room with you, and those around the state will be handcuffed.
Hansen and other legislators, as well as supporters of 2024 ballot measures, have indicated they do not intend to wait. The argument is that without LB 677 the laws approved by voters could turn into the wild west or deny Nebraskans access to cannabis.
Voters approved laws that allow for up to five ounces medical cannabis on a doctor’s prescription. In effect since December, the laws passed in November with 71 percent voter approval.
As part of the companion ballot measure, which was approved by 68.3 percent, a new Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission has been formed to draft new rules and regulations.
‘Our fight remains’
Hansen said to reporters following Hilgers’s press conference that LB677 was recreational, but that this “couldn’t be further from the truth”. He also stated that “turning a blank eye” towards the ballot initiative would harm voters.
Hansen explained: “That is like saying recreational opiates, or recreational Fentanyl, are available from us.” “We do not provide recreational drugs or fentanyl,” Hansen said.
Crista Eggers of Nebraskans For Medical Marijuana said that Hilgers’s statement to the Legislature about respecting the will of voters was hypocritical, “especially after actively undermining it in court, at the polls and even within the Legislature.”
Eggers led the campaign to pass the 2024 ballot, the group’s third effort. He said Hilgers actions had been the main reason that medicinal cannabis remains out of reach for so many.
“Our fight remains as it always has: as a voice for Nebraska patients—real people in our communities who are suffering,” Eggers said in a statement. “As we continue to fight for patients such as Will, Brooke Jayen Kyler Colton and many others, our commitment will remain unwavering.”
There is no clear direction for the future of regulations
Hansen, State Sens. Rick Holdcroft (R), Bellevue (D), and John Cavanaugh of Omaha (D), chair and vice chairs of the General Affairs Committee in the Legislature, organized three townhalls at this weekend’s La Vista, Omaha, and Lincoln to get feedback on LB677 and a proposed new amendment.
It was that new amendment, AM 1251, that got LB 677 out of committee in a 5-3 vote last week after earlier stalling in committee.
The 124-page amendment makes various changes to the laws but is intended to put in place various regulations and safeguards around the new Medical Cannabis Commission. A commission attorney stated in court papers that commissioners “have no ability” to perform any duties under the new laws without follow-up legislation.
LB 677, with the amendment, would move the process forward, giving the commission more time to act, through October 1 rather than July 1, but also more guardrails.
As it is, Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission and its five Governor-appointed Members would be given full authority over all regulations. They could create a system that was more restrictive than LB677 or the amendment.
Hilgers, whose office is defending other state officials in that same lower-court case against the voter-approved laws, said of the commission’s position: “We think they’re wrong.”
Hilgers stated that “if they take this position then it is against the law and the will of people.”
Hilgers’ office has threatened to file a new lawsuit if the Commission does not issue regulations or subsequently license medical dispensaries. Hilgers’s office threatened to file a lawsuit if that happened.
Critiques – the core
Hilgers is concerned that LB677 will restrict the sale cannabis flower up to two ounces. He calls this a “gigantic hole” which would allow smoking. He said that while LB 677 bans smoking, allowing cannabis flower is “like saying you can purchase beer and put it in your fridge, but don’t consume the beer.”
The ballot measure legalized 5 ounces of cannabis “for all parts” of the cannabis plant, including flower, which can be ground into joints or blunts. The cannabis can be further processed for use in vaporizers as well as edibles, tinctures and creams.
Hilgers criticized also that in a list 15 conditions qualifying for medical cannabis in LB677’s proposed amendment the proposal allows medical cannabis to be used in certain serious conditions, or chronic pain. This, he claimed, will “widely open” the list. This list was developed a few decades ago in conjunction with the Nebraska Medical Association. Currently, the list excludes post-traumatic anxiety disorder.
Cannabis was legalized for any condition with the recommendation of a doctor.
Also on the list of criticisms is that LB 677’s amendment would not allow anyone to go after medical practitioners for recommending cannabis, and there would be little process to take away a patient or caregiver’s practitioner-approved card, also a new system in LB 677.
Hilgers stated that his office has an “enormously important role” to ensure health professionals adhere to their license. He said that if the recommendation of cannabis by a healthcare practitioner results in a miscarriage, disability or death for a fetus, or when someone who has a mental illness commits murder or suicide, then it is up to the state to take action.
Asked by a reporter whether disciplinary action would be on a case-by-case basis, Hilgers said sometimes yes, but he acknowledged that all physicians who recommend cannabis could be at risk, which comes as the state continues to face health care staffing shortages.
It’s “ethical” for him to tell patients they can break the federal law.
Hilgers stated that “all health licenses are at risk, with the exception of this one, should this bill be passed.”
Hilgers said he did not want to speculate but he talked about scenarios where patients and caregivers might start to collect “pounds” (or kilograms) of cannabis to sell to their friends or neighbours. That would be illegal, no matter if LB677 was passed on the ballot or LB677 itself.
Hilgers denied a question from a journalist that he “punished” someone or used alleged bad actors as an argument against medicinal cannabis in general.
Hansen, Cavanaugh and others have stated that the best way to prevent a black market is with sensible regulations. Hansen stated that the tracking of seeds from their production to sales, as well as using prescription drugs monitoring, is a way for states to prevent “black market” drug use.
There is a lot of opposition to the ballot measure
Hansen stated that LB 677, and its amended version, would allow law enforcement to better identify problems in Nebraska’s programs within “about 2 seconds” while also providing them with new resources.
Cavanaugh is a lawyer who noted that Hilgers’ criticisms were almost exclusively directed at the ballot question, and not LB 677.
Cavanaugh estimates that more than 300 people attended these weekend events. 97 speakers spoke (some of whom repeated themselves across all three events), to a group bipartisan 13 senators.
Cavanaugh says it’s “disingenuous” for Hansen to work on the General Affairs Committee without working with Hansen beforehand. Cavanaugh now says Hilgers wants to prevent the bill from ever passing.
Cavanaugh stated, “He is losing the court battles and trying to win the legislative session.”
Hilgers also sent a letter to Speaker John Arch (R) of La Vista, who could schedule LB 677 for debate later this month after the state budget passes. Hilgers held the position of speaker prior to becoming attorney general in 2010.
Arch said he read the letter, but it had no impact on his decision to schedule LB 677’s debate.
Lancaster County Sheriff Terry Wagner stated at a news conference that LB 677 is “pure” recreational marijuana, “masked” to appear as medical. Sarpy County Sheriff Greg London said it was a “red herring to get into full-fledged recreational marijuana.”
Joining the letter were Sheriffs Neil Miller (Buffalo), Colin Caudill (Otoe), Robert Sorenson (Cass), Dwaine Ladwig (Polk), Shawn Messerlie (Colfax), London (Sarpy), Tom Decker (Dixon), Mark Overman (Scotts Bluff), Aaron Hanson (Douglas), Mike Vance (Seward), Lynn Lyon (Johnson), Mike Robinson (Washington), Wagner (Lancaster), Paul Vrbka (York) and Brent Lottman (Nemaha).
Vrbka also signed on behalf of the Nebraska Sheriffs Association as president, as did Police Chief Kenny Denny on behalf of the Police Chief Association of Nebraska.
Gov. Jim Pillen (R), speaking with the Nebraska Examiner last week, declined to comment on LB 677 other than to say cannabis wouldn’t be approved in a form that could become recreational.
“My advocacy for it is that if you have a medical condition [and] you need it, you’ll get it, but it’s going to taste like crap,” Pillen said. “It’s going to be a bitter pill to swallow.”
‘Think with the heart’
If lawmakers do not act, Hansen has said Hilgers’ actions could inadvertently lead to recreational marijuana in a different ballot measure.
At the public forums this weekend, Hansen discussed that lawmakers might not be able to get at the “full apple” but would work to get 75 percent, 80 percent, and expand legislation in the future. He asked those in attendance Sunday if they would support recreational marijuana on the ballot if LB 677 failed and medicinal marijuana remained out of reach.
Of dozens of people in attendance, nearly every single one raised their hands.
Hansen has asked Nebraskans to share their stories, particularly with his Republican colleagues, to help LB 677. He estimated it could be scheduled for debate shortly after the state budget is passed, which must be done by May 15. The Legislature is set to adjourn June 9.
“We’re so kind of caught up sometimes in the minutia of this bill and the taxing and the regulation, which is good, but we sometimes forget about the people actually going to use this,” Hansen told reporters. “We need to think with the heart a little bit here as well as our head.”
Nebraska Attorney General Hilgers discusses future, stance on medicinal cannabis
Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers (R), in a one-on-one interview with the Nebraska Examiner on Wednesday, said he recognizes that voters are angry with him over his continued opposition to medical cannabis, including in the courts and at the Legislature.
Hilgers said he recognizes separation of powers between the branches of government but views himself as the state’s voice for law enforcement officers and said it’s his duty to speak up.
“I’m a big boy. It doesn’t bother me,” Hilgers said of opponents. “I’ve gone through the wars. What people way to say they want to say.”
While some view his actions as “just political,” Hilgers said, if that’s true, “it’s not a very good political decision” because 70 percent of voters legalized medical cannabis. He said most politicians base “political decisions” on the winning side of 70-30 issues, but “that is not what I ran on.”
“I could not go to my grave looking backward at the work that I did, whether it’s in the Legislature or here, and having that kind of a consideration for me not to do the right thing,” said Hilgers, a former six-year member of the Legislature. “And in this case, I think it’s the right thing.”
Dozens of other states have legalized medical cannabis, which Hilgers said is part of the reason voters are frustrated. He said it’s an “abject failure” of the feds to not follow the law they created.
“I think two plus two is four even if everyone else says two plus two is five,” Hilgers said.
Hilgers said his “heart goes out” to anyone in pain who feels they can’t access something that they feel could alleviate the hurt.
But he also asked “what about” those whose lives have been “ravaged” by drug use or Nebraskans harmed by marijuana-like products, including a wife who had to call law enforcement on her husband who “lost his mind” and a man in a southwest Omaha neighborhood this week who ran around without any clothes saying he was going to kill people.
Hilgers said he is also working to uphold the “integrity” of the ballot measure process with his work, referencing his office’s efforts to decertify the medical cannabis ballot measures last year alleging widespread fraud.
Those legal arguments were rejected in Lancaster County District Court last, and Hilgers is appealing to the Nebraska Supreme Court. Of four targeted campaign notaries in that case, Hilgers confirmed none have been charged or convicted. Campaign officials have denied wrongdoing.
“People might be upset today. They might be upset in 10 years,” Hilgers said. “But at the end of the day, it’s a principle that matters for all of us, and that’s what I’m defending.”
This story was first published by Nebraska Examiner.
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