Nebraska Legislature fails to advance medical marijuana regulations

By Brian Beach , Reporter Nebraska Public Media

May 20, 2025, 8:30 p.m. ·

Sen. Ben Hansen, who introduced a bill regulating medical marijuana in Nebraska, speaks during debate on his legislation Tuesday. (Photo by Fred Knapp/Nebraska Public Media News)

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Medical marijuana will not be regulated by the Nebraska Legislature this year after a bill failed to overcome a filibuster Tuesday evening.

Nebraska voters overwhelmingly approved two ballot initiatives legalizing and regulating medical marijuana last fall. However, the drug remains inaccessible in the state.

The Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission is tasked with drafting regulations and the group is unlikely to begin licensing dispensaries until October at the earliest.

Transporting medical cannabis across state lines is also illegal, since federal law banning all forms of marijuana applies to interstate commerce.

During this year’s legislative session, state senators introduced four different bills providing more detailed regulations on the drug. Of those, LB677 from Sen. Ben Hansen, saw the most attention.

Over the course of several weeks, the Legislature’s General Affairs Committee considered several amendments to Hansen’s legislation. Eventually, a compromise, AM1251, was voted out of the committee.

The amendment includes 15 valid conditions for which a doctor can give a patient a medical marijuana card, including ALS, cancer and epilepsy. Patients can possess up to 5 ounces of marijuana, but only two of those can be in the form of dried flower. Smoking is not permitted, but vaping, edibles and liquid forms of marijuana are allowed.

Tuesday, the bill received a full eight hours of debate on the floor before senators came 10 votes short of overcoming the filibuster in a 23-22 vote. Eight of the 33 Republicans in the Legislature joined each of the present Democrats in the losing effort.

Hansen said the bill’s failure would result in confusion for patients and law enforcement alike. Without new regulations, the language from Initiative 438 would take effect.

“It is much more broad than what this bill and amendment is trying to accomplish, much more confusing than what we're trying to accomplish, and it does nothing but hurt those specific individuals who need it to be able to get it the right way and safely,” Hansen said.

But Sen. Jared Storm, a vocal opponent of marijuana legalization, said the Legislature has no responsibility to act. Storm led a filibuster of the bill, joined by other conservative lawmakers in the Unicameral.

“The ballot initiative as passed by the people does not suggest, invite or require the legislature to act,” he said. “To the contrary, they vest the regulatory authority exclusively in the medical cannabis commission.”

The Nebraska Medical Cannabis commission is made up of the three current members of the Nebraska Liquor Control Commission and two additional members appointed by Gov. Jim Pillen.

The gubernatorial appointees have both shared their opposition to legalizing medical marijuana during legislative hearings on bills from previous years. A hearing on their appointments is scheduled later this week.

Throughout Tuesday’s debate, many senators brought up stories of drug addiction and warned that medical marijuana access could eventually lead to recreational marijuana legalization.

Sen. Paul Strommen expressed opposition to the ability for patients to use tinctures and edibles to ingest medical marijuana.

“The amendment clearly contemplates a recreational marketplace because it authorizes every possible use and form of cannabis, including a wide variety of consumer products, such as drinks, topicals, edibles,” he said.

Other opponents of the bill encouraged senators to wait and see whether a lawsuit from Attorney General Mike Hilgers regarding the ballot initiative process is successful. Sen. Mike Jacobson was among them.

“I have concerns that there was fraud committed when it came to getting the ballot initiative on the ballot, the signatures were gathered inappropriately, and we found that a notary committed fraud when he signed those,” he said.

Jacobson said the alleged bad behavior should not be rewarded with legislative action.

But Hansen, a Republican in the officially nonpartisan Legislature, said the body’s failure to act gives undue power to the executive branch.

“It's a pretty dangerous precedent,” he said. “I'm asking my conservative colleagues, what if this is a Democrat governor, and then he appointed two people to the medical marijuana commission who are in favor of recreational marijuana? Would you take the same approach?”

While some of Unicameral’s more progressive senators like Sen. John Cavanaugh said they wanted to see fewer restrictions on medical marijuana, like allowing for smoking and enabling PTSD patients to access it, they said the bill serves as a positive alternative to legislative inaction.

“The question LB 677 is seeking to answer is how do we make it accessible and safe and create a regulatory structure that will prevent this black market that Senator Storm and others are so concerned about, and to prevent this slide into a recreational system,” Cavanaugh said.