Nebraska Lawmakers Vote to Protect Medical Providers Who Recommend Medical Cannabis

Nebraska lawmakers last week voted 30-7 to pass a bill that would protect
medical providers from criminal, civil, or disciplinary penalties “solely”
for authorizing a patient for medical cannabis, Nebraska Public Media reports. The
proposal, authored by state Sen. John Cavanaugh (D) would allow doctors
to participate in the medical cannabis program without fear of reprisal.

“When someone meets with their doctor and has a conversation with them, the
doctor can say, ‘Listen, cannabis is something that could help with this
particular ailment,’ and… they can decide to recommend it, and for that act
of recommendation, can’t lose their license.” — Cavanaugh, during debate on
the measure, via Nebraska Public Media

State Sen. Bob Anderson (R) argued that the bill would allow “any
fly-in doctor” to “set up a clinic on a corner” and allow them to write
medical cannabis patient recommendations. Cavanaugh countered that someone
could already do that under state law and that his proposal attempts “to
make sure that the legitimate doctors are protected.”

“The folks who are doing those fly-by-night sort of situations would not be
protected because they would not be following a standard of care,” he said
during the debate.

A proposed amendment that would have required practitioners to
write recommendations based on the “most current scientific evidence”
failed 22-19.

The measure still has two rounds of debate before final approval or
disapproval.