More than a year after voters overwhelmingly approved medical cannabis in Nebraska, the state is nowhere near having a functioning program.

Some state lawmakers and cannabis advocates say the latest blow landed Tuesday night, when a bill offering protections to healthcare practitioners who recommend medical cannabis faltered on the legislative floor.

“If there are no practitioners, there are no patients in this program,” Crista Eggers with Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana said. “What seems to be the goal of this is to make sure Nebraska never has a functioning program.”

The stories of families fighting for a medical cannabis program stack up every day.

“His seizures happen all the time. He’s probably he’s having probably hundreds a day,” Dominic Gillen said. “We thought we were the only family. And we’ve come to find out that there are thousands of Nebraskans that are in need of this.”

Gillen’s son Will has Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, a severe form of epilepsy. So does Matthew Bronson’s son Teddy. Bronson is a disabled veteran and carries chronic pain with him every day.

“I want to take something or use something that will help with the pain, but not impair me to the point where I cannot give aid to my child,” Bronson said.

Both families celebrated when Nebraskans overwhelmingly greenlit a medical cannabis program.

“That means 71% of the state says, ‘Let’s do this. Let’s try it,’” Bronson said.

But they say lawmakers and other state officials hung the program out to dry since 2024.

“The legislature has not fulfilled the real intent of the voters,” Gillen said.

Sen. John Cavanaugh championed LB933, aiming to protect healthcare practitioners who recommend cannabis, a Schedule 1 substance.

“Not a single doctor in Nebraska has made a recommendation because they are afraid that the retribution by the attorney general or other law enforcement against their license,” Cavanaugh said.

A number of amendments, including one from Sen. Brian Hardin, throttled the bill on Tuesday night. Hardin called LB933 a “recreational marijuana bill masquerading as a medical marijuana bill” in an interview with KETV on Wednesday.

That means practitioners still won’t have legal protections this year, something Cavanaugh said will be chilling to the program facing a critical attorney general.

“You cannot have a medical cannabis program if no doctors are able to make a recommendation for their patients,” Cavanaugh said.

Attorney General Mike Hilgers’ office said on Wednesday that he is “responsible for ensuring the safety of patients.”

“[The Attorney General] is charged with reviewing complaints as to medical professionals who violate the terms of their licenses,” the statement said. “We take that obligation very seriously, and the office will look at any medical professional who has been alleged to have violated the conditions of their license.”

Every other state with a medical-only cannabis program has protections for practitioners. Nebraska

“It feels like a slap in the face,” Bronson said. “There’s no nice way of saying it.”

Bronson and Gillen said they’ll continue to advocate for what they say is necessary for many Nebraskan patients.

But they say they’re uncertain about the future as Nebraska continues to chart its own course. The Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission has missed deadlines, restricted forms of cannabis patients can use, and capped the total number of plants cultivators can grow to just 1,250. That’s a total of 5,000 hemp plants across the four licensed cultivators.

“What I’ve heard from people who want to get licenses, they’re already saying that that won’t be enough,” Gillen said.

The Medical Cannabis Commission did not respond for comment on Wednesday. But it will hold its next public meeting next Monday at 1 p.m. in the State Office Building in Lincoln.

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SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) —The Nebraska wildfires have destroyed hundreds of thousands of acres of grassland that many ranchers use to feed their cattle. It’s a sad reality that has provoked sympathy from ranchers in South Dakota.

“When your family’s in the ranching business, that’s your whole life. It’s your whole livelihood. And, you know, you’re caretakers of these creatures. And, to be without food, you know, without feed for them, when it’s your way of life. That’s just a horrible place to be,” SD Cattlemen’s Foundation board member, Ty Eschenbaum said.

South Dakota ranchers were motivated to help out in a way only they could– by donating hay.

“They’re sending us right in the burn footprint. So we’re going into that Arthur, Oshkosh, Lakeside areas, where they were hit the hardest. They’re telling us that the hay that we are bringing down will be completely fed by the end of the weekend,” Kingsbury County Cattlemen’s Association, Laurie Casper said.

But it’s not cheap getting the hay to Nebraska.

“The price of fuel is astronomical. And, you know, we’re trying to get these trucks going those 39,800 miles total. Definitely a huge bill to flip,” Casper said.

That’s why the South Dakota Cattlemen’s Foundation has a way for you to help get that hay across state lines. They are matching up to $10,000 dollars worth of donations.

“It’s a lot of fuel. So that’s exactly where our dollars are going and the dollars that we help fundraise. And anybody that wants to join in and help us, 100% of your funds are going to this effort,” Eschenbaum said.

Neighbors helping neighbors, hundreds of miles apart.

“It’s very taxing, you know, this time of year. Calving cows, starting to breed cows, feeding cows, worried about the drought. And, you know, if I’m going to have enough pasture, so to get hit with a fire that takes out everything, on top of all of that, I think it’s pretty easy for other cattlemen to say, hey, we got to help,” Eschenbaum said.