Medical marijuana pilot study advanced

A pilot study would make marijuana available for medical treatment in Nebraska under a bill advanced May 18.

Introduced by Bellevue Sen. Sue Crawford, LB390 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.

UNMC would submit a report annually to the Judiciary and Health and Human Services committees of the Legislature, beginning Sept. 15, 2016. The report would include the number of patients currently and previously enrolled in the study, changes in intractable seizure frequency and severity, adverse effects of treatment and a summary of appropriate dosing.

Crawford said the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently has given preliminary approval to a pharmaceutical-grade cannabinoid drug that UNMC would be permitted to prescribe legally. The bill provides a framework that allows patients immediate access to a drug that has proven effective to reduce seizures for treatment-resistant children, she said, while giving the medical community an opportunity to collect data on the drug’s efficacy.

“There are no other options for many of these patients,” Crawford said. “This allows for compassionate care as quickly as possible.”

Sen. Matt Williams of Gothenburg supported the bill, saying it represents an organized and controlled strategy to dispense and research a largely experimental drug.

“This is the systematic way to move forward with [medical] marijuana in our state,” Williams said.

Ralston Sen. Merv Riepe opposed the bill. Because the measure would affect only a small number of patients, he recommended that UNMC could save time and funds by consulting other states that are conducting similar studies.

Sen. Dave Bloomfield of Hoskins said that any positive result would justify the effort to undertake the pilot study.

“One child having one less seizure—that is success,” he said in support of the bill.

Bancroft Sen. Lydia Brasch expressed concerns that the state would be dispensing a drug that had not yet been fully approved by the FDA.

The amendment also added the Clerk of the Legislature as a recipient of the UNMC annual report.

Lincoln Sen. Adam Morfeld introduced an amendment to the committee amendment to incorporate provisions of his LB546, which would exempt an individual from prosecution who prescribes or dispenses naloxone, a morphine-like synthetic drug, to a person experiencing an opioid-related overdose.

Morfeld said fatal drug overdoses—many from prescription painkillers—have increased sixfold over the past 30 years, claiming the lives of more than 36,000 Americans annually. Twenty-eight states already have passed laws that increase access to the life-saving drug, he said.

“This drug is not in enough hands to save as many lives as it can,” Morfeld said.

The Morfeld amendment also added provisions of LB326, introduced by Williams, which would update the state’s Uniform Controlled Substances Act to prohibit the newest compounds of synthetic cannabinoids, also known as K2.

Williams said a recent surge in synthetic marijuana overdoses in Lincoln illustrates the need for the Legislature to continually revise the list of controlled substances.

“This is a serious problem—and one we can address by updating these chemical compositions,” Williams said.

Senators adopted the amendment on a 32-1 vote.

A Judiciary Committee amendment replaced the bill and removed a provision that would have appropriated $250,000 in fiscal years 2015-16 and FY2016-17 from the state’s General Fund for the study. The funding instead would come from the state Health Care Cash Fund.

After adopting the committee amendment on a 36-1 vote and a technical amendment, senators advanced LB390 from general file 33-1.