Medical marijuana legalization requested

Marijuana would be used for medical treatment in Nebraska under two bills heard by the Judiciary Committee March 6.

LB643, introduced by Bellevue Sen. Tommy Garrett, proposes the Cannabis Compassion and Care Act to regulate the use of cannabis in Nebraska for medical purposes. The act would be administered by the state Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and specify terms and legal protections for medical cannabis use by practitioners and patients.

The bill would establish nonprofit care centers to cultivate and dispense cannabis to qualified patients with debilitating medical conditions. Patients would be limited to 6 ounces of cannabis every 30 days and care centers could obtain cannabis only from within Nebraska.

The bill also would create an 11-member board to advise DHHS and require the development of a computerized verification system. Implementation of the act is estimated to cost $1.1 million in fiscal year 2015-16 and $828,000 in FY2016-17.

Garrett said 23 other states have passed similar laws permitting cannabis for medical use. LB643 represents the best aspects of all of those measures, he said.

“It’s time for us to stop talking about this [issue],” Garrett said. “People are suffering.”

Robert Mikos, a professor at Vanderbilt University specializing in drug law, testified in support of the bill, saying the state would suffer no federal legal consequences for legalizing medical marijuana. Despite a federal ban on marijuana, he said, Nebraska, like 23 states before it, simply can remove sanctions on the possession and distribution of the drug.

“State laws that legalize marijuana are constitutionally sound,” Mikos said. “The state has no obligation to punish private citizens [who use marijuana].”

Paige Figi of Colorado also spoke in favor of the bill. Cannabidiol reduced her daughter’s seizures from 100 to one per month, she said. Nebraska does not have to replicate Colorado’s marijuana law, she said, but it should create regulations that best fit its patients’ needs.

“There is an absolute medical need and validity to this as a treatment,” she said.

Sarah Lyon, who suffers from multiple health issues, said medicinal marijuana immediately improved her health and allowed her to discontinue 11 prescriptions. But because the drug is illegal, she said, she has to hide her use to avoid prosecution.

“Medical cannabis users are not criminals,” she said.

Joseph Acierno, acting CEO of DHHS, testified in opposition to the bill, saying that too many questions exist regarding the efficacy of medical marijuana. Additionally, he said, time frames to establish and monitor the act would be difficult, if not impossible, to meet.

Ann Frohman, representing the Nebraska Medical Association, also spoke against the bill. While medical marijuana holds promise as a treatment for cancer and epilepsy patients, she said, there is not enough scientific data to support it being prescribed by the state.

“Without more evidence via research … physicians charged with prescribing medical marijuana would be uncomfortable with the bill,” Frohman said.

LB390, introduced by Bellevue Sen. Sue Crawford, would create a pilot study at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) to allow access to low-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) oil for patients who suffer severe, treatment-resistant or untreatable epileptic seizures.

The bill would authorize UNMC to be Nebraska’s sole producer and prescriber of cannabidiol for research. The cannabidiol could contain up to three-tenths percent of THC, the active ingredient of the cannabis plant. Practitioners, patients and their parents or legal guardians participating in the study would be exempt from prosecution for possession of a controlled substance.

The Legislature would appropriate $250,000 in FY2015-16 and again in FY2016-17 for two part-time neurologists and operating expenses.

Crawford said the bill would allow Nebraska to contribute to research about the use of cannabidiol oil, which has been shown to reduce seizures for treatment-resistant children.

Frohman testified in support of the bill, saying it not only would provide information about a new medical treatment, but also would help people who have no other medical options.

“We cannot fault patients for wanting to try any kind of medical treatment,” Frohman said.

Nicole Perry also spoke in favor of the bill, saying the brain surgery her son endured in an attempt to cure seizures may have been avoided had he had access to cannabidiol. Because he continues to have seizures, she said, the oil remains an option her family hopes to be able to pursue.

“If it doesn’t work for my son,” she said, “it might work for somebody else’s.”

Speaking in support of the bill, Shari Lawlor said 50,000 people die from epilepsy every year. People like her daughter should not be required to wait or move to another state for a drug that been shown to reduce seizures by 50 percent in more than 73 percent of the patients who use it, she said.

Susie Dugan, retired executive director of PRIDE Omaha, testified in opposition to LB390. Nebraska should wait for the Federal Drug Administration to complete its testing of cannabidiol before prescribing it to its citizens, she said.

“I want relief for these patients as much as anybody,” she said, “but we need to look at all of the options.”

The committee took no immediate action on the bills.