Nebraska commission approves emergency medical cannabis regulations

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June 27, 2025

LINCOLN — The Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission on Thursday approved emergency rules to start accepting medical cannabis applications as soon as Governor Jim Pillen gives his final assent. State law mandates his approval by Tuesday.

The emergency provisions, revealed just minutes before the 10 a.m. meeting, largely mirror a legislative proposal that lawmakers stalled on last month. These rules would be effective for up to 90 days, pending Pillen’s endorsement. The two cannabis-related laws that voters endorsed require that application acceptance must commence no later than July 1.

Commissioner Lorelle Mueting of Gretna, an addiction prevention specialist with Heartland Family Service, confirmed that commissioners desire public input on the emergency provisions through July 15, to inform subsequent, formal regulations.

Public comments can be sent to lcc.frontdesk@nebraska.gov, the official inbox for the Nebraska Liquor Control Commission, which will forward the communications to the state’s new Medical Cannabis Commission.

“The feedback that the public provides on these emergency rules will help us immediately begin drafting the standard regulations,” Mueting stated Thursday.

Emergency Regulations Process

Dr. Monica Oldenburg, an anesthesiologist and chair of the commission, will dispatch a letter to Pillen outlining the emergency provisions and asserting that the “failure” to adopt them by the deadline “would compel Nebraskans to seek medical cannabis or similar items from unregulated and potentially harmful sources.”

A spokesperson for Pillen indicated Friday that the governor “is carefully reviewing the emergency regulations and will have a decision by July 1.”

Licensing of new establishments must commence by Oct. 1, according to the laws. The emergency provisions would permit licenses for, at minimum, cultivators, product manufacturers, dispensaries, and transporters, and an entity could be granted only one type of license.

Justification for emergency regulations under state law can include “imminent peril” to public health, safety, or welfare.

Mueting and Oldenburg will lead a subcommittee to develop the regulations in the interim.

Commissioners also voted 4-0 to enter into a legal collaboration with the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services and Pillen’s Policy Research Office, which enables the commission to contract with DHHS for “legal services.”

Dispensary Restrictions

Legislative Bill 677, which fell 10 votes short of the 33 needed to alter a voter-approved law last month, 23-22, would have provided additional safeguards around the ballot measures voters overwhelmingly passed in November. Up to 30 dispensaries would have been permitted under that bill, with a maximum of 10 in each congressional district.

Under the emergency regulations, no more than one dispensary would be permitted in each of the state’s 12 District Court Judicial Districts. Douglas County (Omaha) and Lancaster County (Lincoln) are the only counties that comprise a single district. Several medical cannabis advocates requested the commission to re-evaluate this specific limitation.

No dispensary could be situated within 1,000 feet of any school, daycare, church, or hospital. At least 51% of an applicant’s business or organization would need to have resided in Nebraska and been a U.S. citizen for at least the past four years. Applicants would also need to pay to submit two legible sets of fingerprints to the FBI and the Nebraska State Patrol for a criminal background assessment.

Qualifying Conditions and Allowable Products

Unlike LB 677, the emergency regulations do not specify eligible medical conditions. LB 677 would have detailed 15 conditions suitable for the medicine. That list excluded post-traumatic stress disorder.

Nebraskans in November overwhelmingly legalized up to 5 ounces with the recommendation of a healthcare professional.

The emergency regulations would necessitate that a recommendation (from any provider nationwide) specify the product being suggested, the recommended dosage and potency, the quantity of doses, the instructions for use, and the patient’s name.

The regulations would permit dispensaries to sell:

• Oral tablets, capsules, or tinctures.

• Non-sugarcoated gelatinous cubes, gelatinous rectangular cuboids, or lozenges in a cube or rectangular cuboid shape.

• Gels, oils, creams, or other topical preparations.

• Suppositories.

• Transdermal patches.

• Liquids or oils for administration using a nebulizer or inhaler.

Dispensaries could not sell raw plant or flower, food or beverages with cannabis infused into them (edibles), any products containing artificial or natural flavoring or coloring, and any products administered by smoking, combustion, or vaping.

LB 677 would have mandated testing of all products before they could be sold, establishing one of the most stringent testing frameworks in the country. However, without a legislative modification, the commission lacks the explicit authority to regulate testing under the medical cannabis laws. Instead, the emergency regulations state products “may” be submitted for testing or research for development purposes.

Packaging would need to demonstrate tamper resistance, be child-resistant, resealable, and protected from contamination.

Similar to 2024 restrictions on vaping products, cannabis products could not depict cartoon-like fictional characters or mimic characters primarily intended for entertaining minors, trademarks or trade dress, or products that imitate or mimic products primarily marketed to minors, symbols primarily used to market products to minors, or the images and likenesses of celebrities.

Shari Lawlor of Valley informed the commission that her 32-year-old daughter, Brooke, has endured severe seizures for the past 31 years but “nothing in modern medicine has helped her,” including brain surgery in 2024.

Shari Lawlor said her daughter has 11 bottles of medications and takes “handfuls” of pills.

“They’re going to kill her. If it’s not one organ, it’s another,” Lawlor asserted. “I would just like the option to have complete access for the patients, and that’s only by letting all different products on the market.”

Pharmacist Concerns

Jim Wilson, a clinical pharmacist representing the Nebraska Pharmacists Association, noted both positive and negative aspects of cannabis. He urged the commission to solicit input from pharmacists due to potential side effects with other drug interactions.

Wilson advocated for incorporating medical cannabis into the state’s prescription drug monitoring program used for other medications, which LB 677 would have also done.

“We are not interested in the politics or any particular party or any of that,” Wilson conveyed to the commission. “We’re interested in the patient and what might happen to them.”

State Senator Ben Hansen of Blair, who introduced LB 677, said Friday that many of the guidelines appeared “copied” from his bill. The final regulations are where those concerned about the issue will want to see proof “in the pudding,” he remarked.

“Life would have been much easier if [lawmakers] would have just passed LB 677,” Hansen stated, adding that he hears from individuals who have “some hesitancy about where they’re going with this,” and deemed that feeling “totally justified.”

Hansen also reiterated his prior concerns about the Nebraska Attorney General’s Office having indicated it would sue the commission as soon as it issues licenses. He questioned the potential cost to taxpayers of those lawsuits and others.

State Senator John Cavanaugh of Omaha, who supported LB 677, stated the commission lacks legal authority to restrict the forms of cannabis available to patients.

“To disallow by regulation what is clearly allowed by statute is a slap in the face to the patients and families who need this medicine and the voters of Nebraska who approved it by an overwhelming majority,” he said in a text message.

‘A Long Ways to Go’

Crista Eggers, executive director of Nebraskans for Medical Cannabis, the campaign that spearheaded the laws through the 2024 election, asserted that the ballot measures unequivocally legalized medical cannabis in all forms, including flower. She also noted it’s unclear where completed applications should be submitted.

Speaking with reporters after the meeting, Eggers remarked that there are positive elements to the regulations and that she considered Thursday’s meeting productive, despite some drawbacks. She highlighted the commission’s expressed intention to listen to the public and seek feedback.

“Today was a positive day, and I believe that we are moving in a forward direction,” Eggers stated. “We’re not there. There’s a long ways to go. But a good foundation today.”

Bailey, who chairs the Liquor Control Commission, informed Eggers that he and other commissioners had seen the regulations approximately 12 hours before Thursday’s meeting and hope to solidify and clarify them further over the next month.

“We’re asking for public feedback such that these things could be made whole,” Bailey affirmed. “The best we have right now is what’s in here.”

The eventual formal regulations the commission advances this summer must include at least 30 days’ notice of what’s being considered before a public hearing.

The commission set its next meeting for 1 p.m. Aug. 4, with a location yet to be determined. If there are no meetings before then, the likely public hearing on the more lasting regulations would be in September.