Medical Cannabis Commission hears from manufacturers and extends emergency regulations

The Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission voted unanimously to extend its emergency regulations another 90 days while permanent rules make their way through the promulgation process. The previous emergency regulations had been set to expire Dec. 8.

The regulations outline the number of cultivators, transporters, manufacturers and dispensaries that are allowed in the state, as well as restrictions on the types and potency of products they can produce or sell.

During the public comment period at Tuesday’s meeting, Trevor Reilly, who formerly worked as a hemp consultant, was among the several testifiers who criticized the current regulations for being overly restrictive.

“For all the fear I've heard of big marijuana, these regulations uphold the barrier to entry that primarily only big businesses can really afford,” he said. “It's up to this commission to implement a program that gives Nebraskans access to marijuana to prevent the recreational initiative from being the only other reform that delivers what the people are asking for.”

Josh Egle, who owns a medical marijuana dispensary in Arkansas and started a hemp company on the Wyoming side of his farm, which stretches into Banner County, Nebraska, said it would be very hard to profit from Nebraska’s program as written.

“The products allowed in Nebraska are some of our worst-selling products in Arkansas,” he said. “I don't foresee many patients going through the hoops to get their medical cards in Nebraska. Without large card holder numbers, there will be very little revenue generated.”

Commissioners also listened to invited testimony from several cannabis manufacturers, many of whom expressed similar concerns about the overly restrictive nature of the regulations.

There is currently a limit of four cultivator and four manufacturer licenses that can be awarded in the state. Troy Burgess of Ogre Village, which operates a dispensary in Oklahoma, said those numbers will create a surplus of manufacturers, particularly if they use carbon dioxide extraction.

“With the limitations we have that we're setting up, 1,250 flowering plants, one CO2 extractor could process that in less than half a year,” he said. “To me, the licenses should be somewhat restrictive if we're going to be very restrictive on the cultivators.”

Burgess said Oklahoma has 1,000 marijuana growers and 17 hazardous processors.

Following the listening session, commissioners declined to set a timeline for when transporters, manufacturers or dispensary applications would be open, citing a need to take the new testimony under consideration.

“I feel like, after the things that we heard today, I need to wrap my head around those and look at our regulations again and our forms,” said Commissioner Lorelle Mueting.

Robert “Bud” Synhorst of Lincoln and James Elworth of Nebraska City were appointed to the Liquor Control Commission in November by Gov. Jim Pillen following the resignations of Bruce Bailey and Kim Lowe. The Medical Cannabis Commission is made up of the three Liquor Control Commission members in addition to two additional appointees.

John Reagan of Omaha, a frequent testifier at commission meetings, encouraged Synhorst and Elworth to take a different approach than their colleagues.

“I hope that at least you two will come in with an open mind, because the other three we've got don't have one,” he said. “We need somebody on that side of the table to support us. We don't have that with these three.”

Commission chair Monica Oldenburg was called away due to an emergency, so Mueting served as chair for the meeting.

The commission denied appeals from two cultivator applicants who were scored below the threshold necessary for approval, including one from Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana executive director Crista Eggers. Two additional cultivator applications were also denied Tuesday, meaning the commission will randomly draw two new applications to score.

Representatives from the two cultivators who had their applications approved in October spoke at the meeting to provide an update on their timeline.

A representative for Patrick Thomas of Raymond said his first viable harvest is expected in the summer of 2026.

No official date has been set for the next commission meeting. Mueting said it will be listed on the commission’s website once it’s been decided.