Nebraska’s licensed medical cannabis cultivators are about to harvest their first plants, but they have nowhere to send them.
A year after the Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission awarded four cultivation licenses by lottery, the state still hasn’t licensed a single processor, transporter, testing lab or dispensary, according to the Nebraska Examiner. Without those links, harvested cannabis can’t legally move from a grow site to a patient.
Although state regulations allow up to four cultivators, four product manufacturers and 12 dispensaries, the commission has said it won’t issue additional licenses until it can assess licensing fees.
Proposed regulations would establish a $5,000 application fee for cannabis establishments, along with initial licensing and renewal fees that vary by license type. The revised rules are expected to take effect in early 2027, according to the commission’s timeline.
How long will medical marijuana sales be delayed?
Voters approved medical cannabis on Nov. 5, 2024, meaning the state will reach the two-year anniversary of legalization next month without a single sale.
Crista Eggers, executive director of Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana, said in September that she doubts sales can begin at any point in 2027.
For cultivators, that means mounting costs with no clear timeline for generating revenue. Rent, payroll, security, utilities and insurance expenses continue while regulators deliberate, and prolonged storage raises concerns about the quality of harvested cannabis.
Garrett Elting of MahaMota Cultivation told the commission in September that the company was about four to six weeks from harvest and that storage could be needed for months.
“With the storage, we have degradation of the biomass, and we’re going to be losing terpenes and cannabinoids the longer it is stored,” Elting told the commission.
What is the state doing to solve the cannabis supply chain problem?
The regulatory approval process presents another obstacle.
Nebraska is among the most anti-marijuana states to have legalized medical cannabis. Attorney General Mike Hilgers and Gov. Jim Pillen have openly opposed the program and questioned the legality of the ballot initiatives that created it.
Both must sign off on its regulations. Any substantive changes made by the commission trigger a new 30-day public comment period, followed by another round of approvals from both offices.
Eggers has said for months that the work is overdue.
“These are things that should have been done eons ago,” she said in May.
Advocates and the commission continue to clash over the agency’s direction, and the public can weigh in on proposed regulation revisions at a hearing Thursday.
