Sen. Groene to expand medical marijuana proposal

Republican Sen. Mike Groene introduced LB 1275 at the end of January: an act to legalize medical marijuana in small doses and limited forms. 

"I didn’t change my mind this year, I stood up on Wishart's bill because the medical purposes' alternative is deadly opioids," Groene told NCN on a phone call. "Wishart didn’t bring forward a bill, so I waited until the last day for that option," he said.

Many Nebraskans reacted in opposition to the bill, despite wanting cannabis to be legalized. 

"This bill is limited. The THC content of the flower itself -- 15% won't touch much epilepsy," said Luke Drozd of Madison.

He has been promoting cannabis for the sake of his wife with stage four cancer.  Drozd's other concerns, he listed, include: that the bill does not provide an adequate way for dispensaries to obtain medical cannabis in his opinion; that practitioners are discouraged from participating; that practitioners must have 20 hours of CMEs; that the qualifying list of conditions is narrow; that ingestion via inhalation is prohibited; and that the Nebraska State Patrol administers the program. 

But, Groene said he is working to expand the bill. Some changes he expects include for inhalers to be added, and for ideas from bills by Sen. Anna Wishart and Sen. Ben Hansen. 

At the same time, the 2022 Nebraska Medical Cannabis Campaign petitions continue to circulate.  

"The best way to go about bringing patients access is going to the ballot, letting the people decide," said Crista Eggers, campaign coordinator for Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana. 

"I will not support that petition because it says all parts of legalizing it are ok," Groene said. He said he hopes the bill passes so that the petitions do not, noting "If it doesn’t pass legally it will pass through the petitions [...] There's enough citizens that understand we cannot open the floodgates and we hope they will say 'this is enough.'"

If the LB 1275 is passed on final reading, it will go to the governor for approval. 

"It gives the people a choice," Groene said.