Nebraska Attorney General Pressures Lawmakers Not To Pass Medical Marijuana Bill

“This is not about the will of the people. This is going to make Nebraska less safe, more dangerous.”

By Zach Wendling, Nebraska Examiner

Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers (R) escalated his opposition to legislative efforts to help implement medical cannabis Wednesday, parading out more than a dozen law enforcement officers who support his stance.

At a news conference, Hilgers blasted Legislative Bill 677, from State Sen. Ben Hansen (R) of Blair, asserting that the effort to build a regulatory framework around voter-approved medical cannabis is nothing more than a path to recreational marijuana that he argued would “supercharge the black market.”

As he has already said this year, he urged lawmakers to wait until at least January, as he continues challenging in court the laws that voters approved last fall.

“This is not about the will of the people,” Hilgers, joined by various sheriffs, said of LB 677. “This is going to make Nebraska less safe, more dangerous. It’s going to handcuff the good men and women here that are in front of you and all their colleagues around the state.”

Hansen, other lawmakers and supporters of the 2024 ballot measures have already indicated that they have no intention to wait. They argue that without LB 677, the voter-approved laws could become the “wild west” or prevent Nebraskans who need cannabis the most from accessing it.

The voter-approved laws allow up to 5 ounces of medical cannabis with a physician’s recommendation. In effect since December, the laws passed in November with 71 percent voter approval.

A new Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission is set to write new regulations around the laws, part of a companion ballot measure that passed with about 68 percent approval.

‘Our fight remains’

Hansen told reporters after Hilgers’s news conference that LB 677 being recreational “couldn’t be farther from the truth” and that “turning a blind eye” to the ballot measure would hurt voters.

“That would be like saying we’re providing recreational opiates or recreational fentanyl,” Hansen said. “We don’t do any of that.”

Crista Eggers, executive director of Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana, said there was “no greater hypocrisy” than Hilgers telling the Legislature to respect the will of the voters “after actively working to undermine it at the ballot box, in the courts and within the Legislature itself.”

Eggers, who led the 2024 ballot measure, the third campaign for the group, said Hilgers’s actions were primary reasons why medicinal cannabis continue to be out of reach for 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 long as patients like Will, Brooke, Jayen, Kyler, Colton, and countless others are suffering, you have our unwavering commitment: We will never stop fighting.”

Regulations remain in limbo

Hansen and State Sens. Rick Holdcroft (R) of Bellevue and John Cavanaugh (D) of Omaha, chair and vice chair of the Legislature’s General Affairs Committee, hosted three town halls this weekend, in La Vista, Omaha and Lincoln, receiving feedback on LB 677 and a 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. An attorney for the commission has said in court filings that, without the follow-up legislation, commissioners have “no ability to carry out any duties” set forth in the new laws.

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 stands, the Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission within the executive branch and its five governor-appointed members would get full rein over regulations, which could set up a system more restrictive than LB 677 or its 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.”

“If they’re taking that position, then they’re contrary to the law and to the will of the people,” Hilgers said.

However, those comments came as Hilgers and his staff await the commission’s regulations and the eventual licensure of medical dispensaries. When that happens, Hilgers’s office has threatened to bring a new lawsuit.

Core criticisms

Among Hilgers’s main concerns is that LB 677 would restrict the sale of cannabis flower, up to 2 ounces, a “gigantic loophole” he said would open the door to smoking. While LB 677 prohibits smoking, he said allowing flower “is like saying you can buy the beer, you can bring the beer home, you can put the beer in your refrigerator, but whatever you do, just don’t drink 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. It can also be processed to be used in vaporizers, edibles, tinctures, creams and more, which would be allowed under LB 677.

Hilgers also criticized that in a list of 15 qualifying conditions in LB 677’s amendment, the proposal would allow medical cannabis for certain serious medical conditions or chronic pain, which he said would blow the list “wide open.” The list was created a few years ago with the Nebraska Medical Association. The list does not currently include post-traumatic stress disorder.

The ballot measure legalized cannabis for all conditions with a practitioner’s recommendation.

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 said his office plays an “enormously critical role” in ensuring health professionals follow their license. However, he said if a health care practitioner recommends cannabis to a pregnant woman, whose pregnancy ends in miscarriage or fetal development disability, or someone with a history of mental health challenges commits suicide or murder, the state needs leeway to act.

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.

He said it’s an “ethical violation” to encourage patients to break federal law.

“All health licensure is at risk of revocation, except in this case, if this bill were passed,” Hilgers said.

Hilgers, while telling reporters he didn’t want to speculate, talked about hypothetical scenarios in which patients or caregivers could start to accumulate “pounds” of cannabis and sell it to friends or neighbors. No matter LB 677 or the ballot measure, that would be illegal.

Hilgers rejected a reporter’s question that he was “punishing” anyone or using supposed bad actors to argue against medicinal cannabis generally.

Hansen and Cavanaugh have said that preventing the “black market” starts with reasonable regulations. That includes seed-to-sale tracking and using the state’s prescription drug monitoring program, used for drugs such as opiates or fentanyl, Hansen said.

Opposition largely with ballot measure

LB 677 and its amendment would be able to identify issues in Nebraska’s program within “about two seconds,” Hansen said, while providing new resources and guidance to law enforcement.

Cavanaugh, a lawyer, noted that nearly all of Hilgers’s criticisms were of the ballot measure, not LB 677.

More than 300 people attended the weekend events, Cavanaugh estimated, and 97 speakers (with some repeats across the three events) spoke to a bipartisan group of 13 senators.

Cavanaugh said it is “disingenuous” to organize opposition at this “late hour” but not work with Hansen or the General Affairs Committee beforehand. Now, Cavanaugh said Hilgers’s goal is to stop the legislation from passing at all.

“He’s losing in the courts and trying to win in the Legislature,” Cavanaugh said.

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 served as speaker before becoming attorney general two years ago.

Arch confirmed he had read the letter and said it would have no effect on scheduling LB 677 for debate.

At the news conference, Lancaster County Sheriff Terry Wagner said LB 677 was “purely” recreational marijuana “masked” as medicinal. 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.”

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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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