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Republican Attorneys General Sue to Block Trump’s Cannabis Rescheduling Order

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Republican Attorneys General Sue to Block Trump’s Cannabis Rescheduling Order

State attorneys general from Nebraska, Indiana and Louisiana last week filed a lawsuit challenging the Justice Department’s recent order to reschedule medical cannabis. Nebraska Examiner reports.

Nebraska AG Mike Hilgers, Louisiana AG Liz Murrill and Indiana AG Todd Rokita, all Republicans, argue in the lawsuit that the rescheduling move will make it easier to push adult legalization policies. The lawsuit also challenges the expanded production of medical cannabis and tax changes under the law the new federal regime.

AG Hilgers opposed Nebraska’s campaign to legalize medical cannabis in 2024, but about 7 in 10 voters approved the reforms. Hilgers is up for re-election this year and will face Democrat Jocelyn Brasher, a former Nebraska assistant attorney general.

“Nebraskans should be outraged that taxpayer resources are being spent to challenge the Trump administration’s medical cannabis reform on an issue overwhelmingly approved by voters at the ballot box. Mike Hilgers is … interfering with decisions that families, patients and doctors have already made clear they support.” – Brasher, in a statement

In Louisiana, lawmakers created a program to make medical cannabis accessible to patients with specific debilitating conditions, while in Indiana, cannabis is not legally available for any purpose.

Meanwhile, last December, President Trump issued an executive order calling for the rescheduling of cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III under the Controlled Substances Act. The Justice Department issued a follow-up order last month, officially making state-regulated medical cannabis products Schedule III. The latest order, however, does not affect other forms of cannabis, meaning that state-licensed adult-use operators are still violating federal law.

The DEA is planning hearings to consider the full rescheduling of cannabis out of Schedule I, which is supposed to be reserved for drugs with “no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.”

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Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers had no immediate comment

The Republican attorneys general of Nebraska, Indiana and Louisiana filed a lawsuit over the Memorial Day weekend to stop Trump’s Justice Department order to reclassify marijuana as a less harmful drug.

The lawsuit, which the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has consolidated with a similar lawsuit by marijuana opponent Smart Approaches to Marijuana, alleges that the Trump administration bypassed its normal rulemaking process.

The AGs argue that the waiver of normal public notice and comment periods jeopardizes the validity of the changes and write that reclassifying marijuana could also violate the 1967 International Narcotics Control Treaty.

Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers had no immediate comment through a spokesman Wednesday, but he said many Nebraska law enforcement officials disagree with the president’s push to change how federal agencies classify marijuana.

The lawsuit challenges the federal government’s workaround, which essentially makes it a middleman that buys the drug from manufacturers, adds a nominal fee, and sells it back to meet the contract’s requirements.

Hilgers argued that loosening federal restrictions on marijuana as a Schedule I drug, like LSD and heroin, to a Schedule III drug, along with Tylenol with codeine, could make it easier to legalize recreational products.

To read the rest of this article on the Nebraska Examiner, Click here

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Nebraska Bill to Protect Doctors Who Recommend Medical Cannabis Fails

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Nebraska Bill to Protect Doctors Who Recommend Medical Cannabis Fails

There will be no protections provided in Nebraska state law this year for doctors who refer patients to the state’s medical cannabis program after cannabis opponents blocked the legislation from state Sen. John Cavanaugh (R). NTV reports.

legislators voted to approve proposal during early review. However, in subsequent debates, opponents of medical cannabis derailed the bill with amendments that sought to change the intent of the proposal.

With the added changes, Cavanaugh eventually withdrew the bill from consideration, noting that “This bill no longer serves the purpose of ensuring that children have access to medicine.”

“Every amendment that has been introduced to that bill is hostile and an attempt to hijack that bill and go against the will of the voters.” – Cavanaugh, via NTV

Nebraska voters overwhelmingly approved the state’s medical cannabis program in 2024, but rollout has been slow and, for many advocates, frustrating.

Crista Eggers of the Nebraskans Campaign for Medical Marijuana said KETV“If there are no practitioners, there are no patients in this program.”

“What seems to be the purpose of this is to make sure that Nebraska never has a functioning program,” she said.

Meanwhile, the Nebraska Legislature approved last week the first state legislation related to the medical cannabis program. This bill would allow the Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission to impose new fees on the industry and increase revenue.

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