Lawmakers on Wednesday voted in favor of the first-ever bill related to Nebraska’s medical cannabis program. The 46-2 vote comes almost two years after voters across the state approved a medical marijuana program on the ballot.

The bill gives the state’s Medical Cannabis Commission the authority to create application fees for dispensaries and manufacturers and requires those applicants to submit fingerprints for background checks. The bill also sets up salaries of $12,500 annually for the commission’s members and creates a cash fund for collecting fees.

Crista Eggers, with Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana, sees the win as bittersweet.

“But it’s not a success,” Eggers said. “Success to those who worked on this, and to the voters as well, is when we have a regulated medical cannabis program that has adequate access to patients. And we are very very far from that day.”

The Medical Cannabis Commission recently drafted and released proposed regulations, which Eggers and other advocates did not believe fell in line with state statute. They proposed, among other things, restricting THC content in medical cannabis as well as which parts of the plant can be used. The regulations also created what Eggers saw as roadblocks to patients getting access to the care, including requirements to renew their medical cannabis cards once every 30 days.

Within the bill approved by the Legislature on Wednesday, Eggers noted that the application fees for dispensaries and manufacturers are capped at $50,000. That is another potential roadblock, Eggers said. If commissioners decide to set fees at the maximum cap, it could cause many manufacturers and dispensaries to simply not apply for a license and not operate in Nebraska. But Eggers added that her group worked alongside lawmakers on the bill, compromising where they could, and the final bill is technically a win. She hopes the commissioners will take a more intentional approach to their work now that they have salaries.

“I believe that expectation is going to be higher now,” Eggers said. “They have a hard job ahead of them and they knew what they were getting into.”

Eggers hopes that another bill in the Legislature, which would give medical practitioners who recommend medical marijuana as a treatment immunity from criminal prosecution, will solidify the cannabis wins for this session.

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