Pillen signs off on Nebraska medical cannabis regulations

LINCOLN — Nebraska’s medical cannabis regulations will become a permanent fixture of the state regulatory code Monday, five days after Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen gave final approval.

Pillen announced Wednesday that he had signed the proposed set of regulations from the Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission. Under state law, the regulations will take the force of law five days after the governor’s signature and after being filed with the Nebraska Secretary of State’s Office. 

A temporary set of regulations, identical to the now-approved version, had been set to expire July 15. They will be replaced next week.

Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers, whose statutory duty is to review proposed regulations for legal and constitutional validity, signed off on the medical cannabis regulations Tuesday. He said they “do not clearly violate the state or federal Constitutions on their face.”

Nebraska AG Hilgers approves medical cannabis regulations; Governor Pillen to review next

Pillen did not issue a statement about his approval of the regulations. In September, he rejected a draft set of regulations because they did not yet include a plant limit for licensed cultivators, but much of the rest of the regulations were the same.

“If an inclusion of plant population limits for permitted cultivators can be included, I will support the remainder of the proposed emergency regulations to go into effect,” Pillen said in a Sept. 4 letter. “Again, thank you for your work on this matter and answering the call to public service.”

Medical cannabis regulators answered Pillen’s request at a Sept. 8 meeting, limiting the state’s four licensed cultivators — the maximum number allowed under the regulations — to grow no more than 1,250 flowering plants at one time.

One cultivator has so far passed inspection and has been approved to begin growing.

Among other requirements in the regulations:

• Establishing a “Recommending Health Care Practitioner” directory and requiring patients who want to access Nebraska-licensed dispensaries to go through one of the providers.
• Restricting purchases of medical cannabis to no more than 5 ounces of medical cannabis in a 30-day period, of which no more than 5 grams can be delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) from the same dispensary. Delta-9 THC is the part of cannabis most associated with a “high.”
• Allowing no more than 12 medical cannabis dispensaries statewide, arranged by judicial district. That would mean one dispensary each in Douglas County (584,526 residents), Lancaster County (322,608 residents), Sarpy/Cass Counties (217,202 residents) and Buffalo/Hall Counties (112,979 residents), according to 2020 census data.
• Prohibiting the sale of smoking or vaping products and edibles of any kind. Oral tablets with a “thin layer” of flavoring to make the products swallowable would now be allowed.

Pillen and Hilgers, when the voter-approved medical cannabis laws took effect in December 2024, said they both believed “serious issues remain regarding the validity of these [ballot measure] petitions under federal law and the Nebraska Constitution.”

In the time since, Pillen has taken a more open stance to the Medical Cannabis Commission than Hilgers, who has continued to oppose federal marijuana rescheduling efforts. His office had also threatened possible legal action against the commission if it issued licenses. When that occurred shortly after Oct. 1 last year, a voter-imposed deadline, no such lawsuit came.

The next Medical Cannabis Commission meeting is July 20.