The Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission will miss an Oct. 1 deadline to begin doling out registrations to cultivators, manufacturers, transporters and dispensaries after the sudden departure of two commissioners disrupted the body’s evaluation process.The noticeably smaller commission filed into a noticeably smaller room on Tuesday afternoon.”Due to the resignation of Commissioner Bailey and Commissioner Lowe from the Liquor Control Commission, they are no longer medical cannabis commissioners,” Dr. Monica Oldenburg, the commission’s chair, said.In meetings past, Commissioner Bruce Bailey had been a lonely dissenter, pushing for more cannabis cultivators and broader regulations for use.”Commissioner Bailey had been a voice of reason,” Crista Eggers, the director of Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana, said. “A voice that had very clearly taken time to try and educate himself.”Gov. Jim Pillen asked for his and Commissioner Kim Lowe’s resignations, but he didn’t specify why.”Commissioners Bailey and Lowe were two of the members of the three-person evaluation team,” Oldenburg said in Tuesday’s meeting.Their absence has already disrupted the commission’s evaluation process. The statute says the commission needs to start handing out registrations to businesses across the supply chain by tomorrow.”You can’t average just one score,” Oldenburg said. “As a result, applications were unable to be evaluated prior to today’s meeting.”The commission will begin doling out registrations next week instead.”They have known that this deadline exists. They have or should have been preparing for this deadline for many, many, many months,” Eggers said. “The fact that we will see October 1 come and go without granting licenses, to me, shouldn’t be acceptable to the Nebraska people.”The chorus of comments came out overwhelmingly opposed to what some say are restrictive regulations.”What is there to say that hasn’t already been said?” Lia Post, a Nebraska patient, said. “How many times do we have to walk down this same road begging for our lives?”NAVIGATE: Home | Weather | Local News | National | Sports | Newscasts on demand |