Supporters have questioned for months whether the voter-authorized Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission would meet its Oct. 1 deadline to grant its first licenses. The answer is no: The commission will miss that deadline by at least one week, in the wake of two resignations sought and received by Gov. Jim Pillen of liquor regulators who jointly served on the medical cannabis board.
The Medical Cannabis Commission confirmed the new timeline Tuesday at a meeting originally meant to approve the first cultivator licenses and move toward the first steps of a medical cannabis supply chain in the state. However, two of the five cannabis commissioners resigned Monday, both of whom served on a three-member team evaluating and scoring cultivator applications received by Sept. 23.
Now, the remaining commissioners will independently review applications by next Tuesday, when commissioners will meet to decide whether to award up to four cultivator licenses.
"We would just ask for your understanding that this is a situation that none of us created in this, where we're at right here," Commissioner Lorelle Mueting of Gretna said Tuesday. "We would just hope you understand that we're working through this the best that we can to make sure that we get the licenses issued in a timely manner and evaluated and issued in time."
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