OMAHA — For more than a decade, parents and patients have advocated for access to legal medical cannabis for suffering Nebraskans, including Shelley and Dominic Gillen, who want the option for their son, Will.

The Gillens say that regulated cannabis doesn’t kill but that what does kill is seizures. They said their son suffers from multiple types of seizures daily because of a rare disorder that makes treatments extremely difficult. Dominic Gillen said his son’s most recent change in medications resulted in a two-week hospital stay and the “very real fear that he was going to die.”

“Seizures have forced us to call 911, have landed him in the ER and have had him admitted for hospital stays countless times,” Shelley Gillen said at a public hearing related to two medical cannabis measures that appear on the Nebraska ballot this fall. “Seizures have traumatized our entire family.”

It has been more than 10 years of advocacy, including a stalled legislative bill in the early 2010s nicknamed “Will’s Law” from former State Sen. Sue Crawford of Bellevue. In that time, the Gillens said, Will Gillen has had many black eyes, head staples, stitches, concussions, knocked out teeth, a broken nose, a broken jaw and an almost fatal liver laceration.

Will’s siblings are first responders, and his parents “vigilantly check on his breathing throughout the night and in the morning to be sure he hasn’t died from an undetected fatal seizure.”

The Gillens were among more than a dozen Nebraskans who testified at a public hearing Friday at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, urging Nebraskans to support Initiative Measures 437 and 438 on the general election ballot that will be voted on, while legal challenges continue.

The measures would legalize medical cannabis for patients, caregivers and medical providers and regulate the plant under a newly created “Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission.”

The past decade has featured seven legislative bills, three straight election cycles, five petitions and more than 700,000 signatures from voters asking for the chance to weigh in.

“These initiatives are for them, and November 5 will be about them,” said Crista Eggers, the effort’s statewide campaign manager, whose elementary-school-age son suffers from severe epilepsy and seizures.

Not yet federally approved

Douglas County Sheriff Aaron Hanson was the only opponent at Friday’s hearing. Hanson said the ballot measures would contradict federal law and bypass the “proven, critical patient safeguard” that is official approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

“The entire patient-focused system is bypassed in favor of a consumer-driven commercial industry that has no safeguards to prevent diversion of THC on approved users, including youth, and much less protect patient health and safety,” Hanson testified.

Hanson, holding up a 12-ounce red solo cup, said if someone had five ounces of concentrated THC, as would be legal under Measure 437, it would be considered a major felony and a distribution amount if he or his deputies come across someone with that amount.

Hanson said he’s in favor of reclassifying marijuana, currently on the same level as heroin, LSD and ecstasy, because it needs federal regulation, testing and dosage.

He also noted the American Medical Association and other leading organizations are against citizen-led legalization of medical cannabis.

The U.S. Department of Justice has formally moved to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug, which could aid possible FDA approval. Thirty-eight states have legalized medical marijuana, while 24 of them, plus Washington, D.C., have also legalized recreational use. The other states, including Nebraska, allow limited access to cannabis products with little to no THC, according to the Pew Research Center.

Possible clinical uses

Angie Cornett, a nurse from Norfolk, said she distinctly remembers the first time a patient felt comfortable enough — more than 10 years ago — to disclose in a clinical setting that they were illegally using cannabis to control their seizures.

“It certainly wouldn’t be the last time,” Cornett said.

Opioids or other prescribed medications can lead to life-threatening conditions, including addiction, Cornett and others testified, highlighting stories of cannabis being used for a variety of conditions, including seizures, Crohn’s disease, irritable bowel disease, chronic pain, Parkinson’s disease, cancer, post-traumatic stress disorder, arthritis or burn pit injuries for veterans.

Heidi Smith testified that she watched her dad suffer from multiple sclerosis while growing up and described the side effects from medications he was on, including intense nausea. But because Smith’s dad, a farmer, couldn’t take a day off work, he ultimately went off the meds.

“Farming was our family’s main income source, and he did what he needed to do to provide for our family,” Smith testified.

A ‘choice’ for patients and families

Smith said her dad, a “conservative, rule-following Republican” asked state officials in the 1990s to consider the plant-based drug but didn’t tell anyone in the family. In 1996, he planted his crops, but he couldn’t walk when it was time to harvest, relying on neighbors to help.

He died in 2003, at age 52, and Smith said she signed the 2020 petition as soon as possible.

“These are hard-working Nebraskans who want a good quality of life and to provide for their families,” Smith said. “‘Nebraska, the Good Life,’ unless you have a medical condition.”

Genevieve Zwicky, who has a multi-systemic genetic disorder with symptoms that will increase in severity until death, said “all of my life experiences have been touched by pain.”

Zwicky, a single parent to a child with the same illness and a licensed mental and behavioral health professional, uses cannabis to manage symptoms but said she wakes up each day in agony, needing help with various daily activities, weekly medical appointments and so many medications that their planner is “overflowing.” 

“Do you not understand that pursuing this specific group of people will demonize you?” Zwicky said. “Do you not see that you are poking a bear with more strength and stamina than you have ever known or could ever hope to come across again?”

The “choice” for suffering Nebraskans, Cornett and others said, is to leave Nebraska for a neighboring state, continue to suffer or risk being charged as criminals to get the medication they believe they need.

“When patients told us their stories, we treated them as patients, not as criminals,” Cornett said. “Research validates these patients’ anecdotes.”

Ongoing legal challenges

John Kuehn, a former state senator and former member of the State Board of Health, is challenging the medical marijuana petitions in Lancaster County District Court. Kuehn alleges the petitions didn’t get enough valid signatures.

The three ballot sponsors — Eggers, State Sen. Anna Wishart and former State Sen. Adam Morfeld — were named in Kuehn’s lawsuit, alongside Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnen, who validated signatures placing the measures on the Nov. 5 ballot.

Kuehn is challenging his own set of signatures, and Evnen and Attorney General Mike Hilgers, who has opposed medical cannabis, filed counter allegations in the Kuehn-led lawsuit. Evnen and Hilgers are targeting about a dozen petition circulators and notaries, alleging “fraud” or “malfeasance.” 

The trial begins Tuesday before District Court Judge Susan Strong. The measures remain on the ballot.

‘Who’s going to take care of him?’

Marcie Reed of Blair, a volunteer for the medical marijuana ballot campaign, asked Friday if opponents had ever seen a child have a seizure. Her 11-year-old son, Kyler, has attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and epilepsy and takes numerous daily mediations.

“Who’s going to take care of him or care if he develops kidney problems or something else from the medicine he’s on now?” Reed asked. “It’s me, I’m the one that cares. I’m the one that has to deal with it, not you. I will continue to fight for what I believe is best for my kid.”

Reed told the Nebraska Examiner that it makes her “really angry” that officials have targeted the campaign.

In 2020, the campaign gathered enough signatures, but the Nebraska Supreme Court sided with a legal challenge that a single constitutional amendment at the time was too broad. The campaign then divided its efforts into two petitions but fell short in 2022, in part because of a lack of funds to pay volunteers after a major donor’s death. 

This is the farthest the campaign has gotten.

“It’s been this group of us — moms with kids with seizures, people with health problems — and to know that they can go after the most vulnerable campaign, knowing that we did not have a lot of money, it makes me think that anything that’s going on in politics is not fair,” Reed said.

‘A David versus Goliath story’

Dominic Gillen and Reed questioned why only the cannabis petitions, which had no requests to remove Nebraskans’ names from the measures, were being investigated.

At the end of Friday’s hearing, Eggers led a two-minute moment for parents, patients, volunteers and others in attendance to share who they are fighting for, with more than two dozen names being shouted out.

Eggers said it represented a sliver of the stories for which Initiative Measures 437 and 438 would provide hope.

“Nebraskans have a choice. They can vote with compassion and empathy, or they can turn away,” Eggers testified. “And those that turn away, I want you to know that the blood of the patients in this state is on their hands.”

Dominic Gillen said the attempts to defeat the effort will be a “black mark” on the state in what is “truly a David versus Goliath story that needs to be told.”

“In a moment of despair, I was reminded by one of my children to remember how that story ended,” Dominic Gillen said. “I will continue to pray for hearts to be unhardened, and I implore all of our supporters to remember: Don’t quit five minutes before the miracle happens.”

When Ohio State took the field against Nebraska this weekend, the Buckeyes were returning home after a one-point road loss to the current No. 1 team in the country. Nebraska was hitting the road again after a disastrous performance in Bloomington, which led to Indiana’s 56-7 routing of the Huskers.

Maybe the Huskers just felt like getting in the Halloween spirit, or maybe the cracks in the Buckeyes’ foundation are just becoming easier for opponents to exploit. Either way, in theory, this game should never have been close, and yet, Ohio State just could not shake the Huskers.

In fact, for the better part of the game, the Buckeyes seemed half asleep out there. And unfortunately for Ohio State, bedtime is when Freddy Krueger does his best (worst?) work.

In the 1984 Wes Craven horror classic “A Nightmare on Elm Street,” Krueger is the stuff of nightmares — literally. He targets a group of teenagers in their dreams, except that when Krueger kills you in dreamland, your death translates to reality too. We learn the rules of Krueger’s game early, when Tina Gray is chased by him in her nightmares only to realize upon waking up that her nightgown has been slashed.

But Krueger isn’t just haunting Gray’s nightmares. He’s also wrecking the sleepy time of Tina’s best friend—our protagonist Nancy Thompson—and Nancy’s boyfriend Glen.

So how do you shake something that only comes to life when you’re sleeping? You stay awake.

It’s advice the Buckeyes would do well to heed moving forward, though they failed to do so this weekend against the Huskers. Nebraska stayed right on the Buckeyes’ tails the entire game, outpacing Ohio State in time of possession, first downs, third-down conversions (the Buckeyes converted a mere one out of 10 third-down opportunities), and total rushing yards.

The Buckeyes struggled to establish their run game, in large part due to offensive line struggles. With talent like Quinshon Judkins and TreVeyon Henderson at running back, coupled with Chip Kelly’s offensive schemas, it’s hard to blame anything but the offensive line’s ability to create room (which is also a credit to the job Nebraska did defensively).

Over the course of four quarters, they punted five times and missed a field goal they should have made. They should count their lucky stars that the defense managed to stop the Huskers from scoring after Will Howard threw an interception that put the Huskers on the two-yard line.

If they made any progress, the Huskers had an answer. Those answers came in the form of three field goals (long and impressive ones, at that), a touchdown run from Dante Dowdell to give the Huskers a 17-14 lead in the fourth quarter, and a two-point conversion on that touchdown, all of which slashed the Buckeyes’ lead like Freddy Krueger chopping up humans in their sleep.

In fact, Krueger seems to stay on the heels of Nancy and her friends too. Any time they make headway on figuring out exactly what this freak’s deal is, they doze off and he’s back to swinging his little sword claws around.

“Seven, eight, gonna stay up late.

Nine, ten, never sleep again.”

Nancy does finally find a way to fight back that doesn’t involve a caffeine IV drip, and in that same vein, the Buckeyes got scrappy at the end to pull out the win—this week—thanks to a game-saving interception from Jordan Hancock. But, without spoiling it, at the end of the film, the door is still cracked open for more trouble from Freddy in the future, and if the Buckeyes don’t correct major issues fast, their nightmares might continue into the rest of the season.

Ohio State hits the road to face the currently undefeated Penn State next weekend in a matchup Penn State tends to keep close even when they’re at their weakest.

Suffice it to say, the Buckeyes need to show up, play their best game, and stay alert or their bad dreams will probably continue. I know mine certainly will if things don’t change soon.

First-set jitters had the entire Bob Devaney Sports Center on the edge of their seat Saturday night.

After falling in the first set, Nebraska (20-1, 10-0 B1G) took care of Michigan (16-5, 6-4 B1G) in four sets, 26-28, 25-17, 25-11, 25-21. Twenty-five attacking errors and 14 service errors doomed Michigan.

Nebraska was not free of mistakes, as the Huskers amassed 27 attacking errors. Their four service errors were covered up by their six service aces, however.

Nebraska led in every statistical category you would like to lead in: attacks (136-133), kills (55-45), digs (54-43), and blocks (10-7).

Bergen Reilly guided Nebraska to a .206 hitting percentage while dishing out 42 assists. Although Harper Murray led the team in kills with 17, she was not the go-to in the clutch. Merritt Beason crushed the final four kills of the match for Nebraska, bringing her total to 16.

Murray and Beason also led from the service line with three aces each.

For the second night in a row, Taylor Landfair got the start at outside hitter while Lindsay Krause relieved her in the final set. Landfair finished with a -.045 hitting percentage, only amassing five kills on 22 swings to go along with six errors. Krause collected one kill on two swings.

The middle pair of Andi Jackson and Rebekah Allick finished with five blocks each while getting 10 and five kills, respectfully.

Lexi Rodriguez continued her dominance of the court, digging up 14 shots to lead both teams.

Nebraska is on the road next week at No. 8 Wisconsin Friday and Northwestern Sunday.

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