LINCOLN — The Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission voted Tuesday to offer two of its four available licenses to cultivators. It rejected two other applicants, who may appeal the decision.
The commission gave itself a limit of four cultivators earlier in September and received 39 applications. It selected four through a lottery, and the three commissioners graded each application out of 100. The average of the three was the final score, and the commission set 70 as the benchmark to pass.
It gave two applications a passing score and two a failing score.
Nancy Laughlin-Wagner of Omaha-based Midwest Cultivators Group and Patrick Thomas of Raymond will receive offer letters to be cultivators. Representatives for both applications declined to comment Tuesday.
Casey Sledge of Omaha and Crista Eggers of Yutan were selected in the lottery but had an average score below 70. They will receive denial letters from the commission and will have until Oct. 23 to appeal, commission Chair Monica Oldenburg said. The commission will grade more applications, but it won’t make a ruling on them until the potential appeals from Sledge and Eggers are resolved.
Sledge and Eggers declined to comment on the commission’s decision.
Eggers is director of Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana, the group that backed last year’s ballot initiative to legalize medical cannabis. She began advocating for legalization in hopes of accessing treatment for her son’s seizures and has since become the leading voice for other Nebraskans who have sought access.
Eggers spoke at the meeting after seeing her score was below a 70 and said, “I am grateful that the commission has moved forward in the licensing process. I hope that the individuals that receive these licenses are good people that have every intention of providing good medicine to the people of this state that so desperately need it.”
She also called for transparency in the scoring process.
Copies of the four applications selected in the lottery were available at the meeting, but rationale for scoring was not. The commissioners declined to comment on the scoring or disclose who provided which score.
The scores showed wide discrepancies between commissioners and applications. While Sledge’s average was below 70, her application received the highest individual score from one commissioner, an 88. Eggers’ received a passing score of 72 from one commissioner and a failing score of 11 from another.
Both of the approved applicants also received one failing score from a commissioner.
Each applicants’ scores from highest to lowest were:
Patrick Thomas: 84, 74, 62 for an average of 73.5
Nancy Laughlin-Wagner: 80, 74, 62 for an average of 72
Casey Sledge: 88, 56, 47 for an average of 63.6
Crista Eggers: 72, 44, 11 for an average of 42.3
The commission was supposed to begin approving applications Oct. 1 but could not meet that deadline due to the resignation of two members of the Liquor Control Commission at the end of September. Members of that commission are also on the Medical Cannabis Commission. Gov. Jim Pillen is accepting applications for the Liquor Control Commission through Oct. 17.
The commission also has a public hearing on its regulations scheduled for Oct. 15.
Since setting emergency regulations, the commission has heard criticism from dozens of people at meetings who have said the rules are too narrow and will prevent access to the medicine. The proposed regulations do not allow for smoking, vaping and edibles, despite the ballot initiative not barring any delivery methods. The proposed rules limit dispensaries to 12 across Nebraska and cultivators to four with 1,250 flowering plants each.
The rules sparked a call for a hearing from one state lawmaker, who said the commission has exceeded its authority and is subverting voters.
The commission heard similar criticism from a two speakers Tuesday but also support for its direction from two people who spoke through Zoom.
Maggie Ballard said that allowing for smoking could be harmful to people with asthma and that the smell is triggering to people in addiction recovery. Ballard testified in favor of commissioner Lorelle Mueting’s appointment to the commission in May. The two work for Heartland Family Services, whose services include addiction counseling and prevention.
Lynette Richards, executive director of Monument Prevention in Scotts Bluff, said the commission is right to ban edibles because they can appeal to kids. She also spoke against allowing smoking because of the effects of secondhand smoke.
Christy Knorr, a hospice nurse from Omaha also testified, saying marijuana was the only relief that worked for her wife before she died of cancer about five years ago.
“Some have smoked it, some have ate it. Some people have had tinctures and some people have had topicals. But they deserve those choices to be able to control their symptoms and be as present as they can possibly be in those last days of life. It matters,” she said. “I implore you to please follow the will of the voters.”
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