Medical marijuana legalization advanced

Medical marijuana would be available in Nebraska under a bill amended and advanced from general file May 12.

Introduced by Bellevue Sen. Tommy Garrett, LB643 would authorize the state Department of Health and Human Services to regulate the manufacture and use of cannabis in Nebraska for medical purposes. The department would be required to specify terms and legal protections for medical cannabis use by practitioners and patients.

Garrett said that medical marijuana reduces seizures for people suffering from epilepsy and helps others manage the side effects from cancer treatment and prescription narcotics. He cited a study showing that 70 percent of children who use Cannabidiol (CBD), an oil made from cannabis, experienced a 50 percent reduction in seizures.

“There are a lot of sick and ailing Nebraskans who are out of options,” Garrett said. “These Nebraskans are begging for our help.”

Garrett said his staff reviewed medical marijuana legislation passed by 24 states, resulting in a “rock solid” measure that would tightly control the manufacture and distribution of the drug. Like Minnesota’s medical marijuana law, he said, LB643 would not permit the smoking of marijuana as a treatment.

“This is not about stoners and getting high; this is about medicine and helping people,” Garrett said. “We’ll make [the bill] airtight.”

A Judiciary Committee amendment, adopted 27-10, replaced the bill. The measure would require the department to:
• permit the delivery of medical cannabis in liquid, oil or pill form;
• register two medical cannabis manufacturers in the state by Dec. 1, 2015;
• require each manufacturer to operate four distribution facilities with at least one facility distributing medical cannabis by July 1, 2016, and all facilities being operational by July 1, 2017;
• establish a patient registry and define qualifying medical conditions required to be enrolled in the registry to include seizures, severe or chronic pain and nausea associated with cancer, acquired immune deficiency syndrome or epilepsy;
• establish qualifications for caregivers to administer medical cannabis for those unable to acquire or self-administer; and
• create a five-person, governor-appointed Medical Cannabis Board to advise the department regarding medical cannabis regulations.

Patients would pay a $200 registry enrollment fee, while those receiving Social Security or other medical benefit payments would be charged a $50 enrollment fee. A $20,000 fee would be charged to each entity applying for registration as a manufacturer.

Bancroft Sen. Lydia Brasch opposed the bill, saying the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) has not approved marijuana for use as a medication. Medical associations have expressed reservations about the use of unproven and untested drugs, she said, because of concerns that cannabis could damage the brains of younger patients. Instead, patients should explore FDA-approved options such as Marinol, a drug that contains a synthetic version of tetrahydrocannabinol, the active chemical in cannabis, she said.

“Are we in such a hurry that we would bypass the medically-approved marijuana drugs out there today?” Brasch said. “Let’s not rush into something that still has a very short history of regulation.”

Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks of Lincoln supported the bill. Medical marijuana would provide an additional choice for some patients whose only remaining option is brain surgery, she said. If doctors don’t think cannabis is an appropriate medication, she said, they would not be required to prescribe it.

“This is one extra tool in a physician’s tool bag,” Pansing Brooks said.

Omaha Sen. Heath Mello, whose mother has epilepsy, also spoke in support of LB643. Although more work on the bill may be needed to make lawmakers comfortable with the issue of medical marijuana, he said, no one can deny that a problem exists in Nebraska.

“Sen. Garrett has raised an issue that can’t go unnoticed any longer,” Mello said. “There are parents and children that need our help one way or another and we’ve got to help them out.”

Senators advanced the bill to select file on a 27-12 vote.