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Nebraska Medical Marijuana Supporters Slam Restrictive Rules Proposed By Governor-Appointed Panel

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2 months ago

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“I feel like Nebraska wants to make it as uncomfortable and unbearable as possible.”

Zach Wendling, Nebraska Examiner

The green shirts filled a hearing room in Lincoln full of Nebraskans who support the legalization of medical cannabis but oppose the state’s new Medical Cannabis Commission’s proposed regulation of the product.

Thirty-two people testified against the proposed regulations on Wednesday. No one spoke up. Witnesses argued that the regulations would not be feasible for most people who need medical cannabis, and roughly half called on commissioners not to attend the hearing to hear their concerns.

“I feel like Nebraska wants to make it as uncomfortable and unbearable as possible,” said whistleblower Nathan Brown.

In the 2024 general election, 71% of Nebraska voters voted to legalize medical cannabis, and 67% voted to create a new regulatory commission. Since December, Nebraskans can legally possess up to 5 ounces of medical cannabis, as long as they have a prescription from a health care professional.

However, medical cannabis cannot yet be purchased legally in the state. Last week, again The Medical Cannabis Commission issued four of its cultivation licenses to Nancy Laughlin-Wagner of Omaha and Patrick Thomas of Raymond. Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services Chief Legal Officer Bo Botelho said both licenses were approved.

In September, the commission advanced stricter regulations compared to the emergency regulations approved by the group in June. Gov. Jim Pillen (R) approved the new regulations with one revision Limit cultivators to grow more than 1,250 flower plants at one time

The revised regulations would, for the first time, impose extensive testing and safety requirements and establish a “Recommended Directory of Health Care Professionals” for doctors in the state to recommend medical cannabis. If approved, the rule would remain in effect for 90 days.

Under the regulations, patients or caregivers can purchase up to 5 ounces of medical cannabis within 30 days, which is about 142 grams. But they could not buy more than 5 grams of delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) from the same dispensary within 90 days. Delta-9 THC is the part of cannabis most commonly associated with a “high”.

Several witnesses said this limit was too restrictive. Testifier Shari Lawlor said a single joint typically weighs about a gram, so limiting people with medical needs to 5 grams of THC for 90 days is impractical.

State Sen. John Cavanaugh (D) of Omaha testified at the hearing that he went a step further and named a limit. a bold voter violation of the ballot language passed in Novemberwhich allowed him to hold five ounces.

The authors, to a large extent, agreed that the proposed regulation goes against what the voters asked for. Several argued that the people responsible for writing the regulations did not understand medical cannabis.

Crista Eggers, campaign manager for Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana initiatives, brought a large stack of papers representing the roughly 240,000 signatures collected between the two petitions as a visual example of the level of public support for medical cannabis.

“I guarantee you every single one of them wishes they were here today,” he said. “You know what, they shouldn’t have. They did their job. The voters spoke.”

Some witnesses criticized the limits on acceptable forms of medical cannabis. The proposed regulations exclude smoking and vaping.

Edward Williams, a veteran and member of the Legal Marijuana Now Party, said smoking or vaping is the most effective treatment method for PTSD when waking up from nightmares. The key factor is that smoking and vaping work faster than other forms of cannabis, such as edibles.

“You can’t wake up with nightmares or flashbacks and expect to wait an hour or two for an edible to work,” Williams said.

Williams wasn’t the only veteran to testify. Several others spoke about how medical cannabis has benefited them and said they’ve lost friends to suicide who didn’t have the opportunity to receive the same treatment.

Most of Wednesday’s speakers offered emotional stories about how medical cannabis can ease painful ailments for them or their loved ones. Medical cannabis has been described as a safer and cheaper option than other pain relief treatments.

“Instead of having to put my mother on morphine at the end of her life, where she then went into a coma just to control her pain, we could have had a meaningful and loving last day if they had prescribed medical cannabis,” said witness Kathy Jensen.

Registered nurse Tracey Davidson, who did not testify but attended the hearing, said she first experienced the benefits of cannabis when her sister-in-law was diagnosed with cancer about 12 years ago. Living in Colorado, he had access to medical cannabis, and said he reasoned that he could continue working and riding his bike days before his death.

“I see cannabis as medicine,” Davidson said. “Throughout my career I’ve seen it work in a variety of situations, from pain management to sleep to PTSD.”

Many witnesses also criticized the three active medical cannabis commissioners not attending the hearing, calling it “shameful” and “insulting”. The hearing was required by law.

Some witnesses also accused members of being “bought” by anti-marijuana politicians. At a commission meeting several weeks ago, witness Georganna Schroeder-Stanley said she saw “indifference, boredom and even contempt” on the faces of some of the commissioners who listened to the public’s views.

Cavanaugh interviewed nominees for the commission as part of his duties as a state senator. He said his “fears have come true” since those conversations: that members are “pursuing a political agenda” that aligns with Pillen’s.

President Monica Oldenburg did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Several other witnesses said Nebraska is losing much-needed revenue. Brown argued that this is absurd given how easy it is for Nebraskans to smuggle cannabis across state lines.

Brown said Nebraska would lose residents because of the government’s resistance to legalizing medicinal cannabis. Another witness, Dawn Weir, said she returned to Nebraska this year because she heard medical cannabis had been legalized.

After the 2024 ballot initiatives, some witnesses questioned whether they should continue to vote if the state intervenes so easily. Cavanaugh urged attendees to continue voting, but to vote “for those who really respect you.”

Supporters of medical cannabis have long argued that the issue is nonpartisan, with several witnesses identifying themselves as registered Republicans who either regret voting Republican in 2024 or are reconsidering their party affiliation.

“I don’t know how long (my Republican record) is going to last given that this situation is going the other way,” said John Reagan, the declarer.

At the end of the hearing, the committee will decide whether to formally accept the regulations or make changes. If finalized, the regulations would be sent to the office of Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers (R) for legislative review. Pillen would have the final say. Hilgers’ office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

This story was first published by the Nebraska Examiner.

Photo by Chris Wallis // Side Pocket Images.

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The forgotten story behind autoflowering cannabis

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13 hours ago

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December 6, 2025

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Many of the things that are common in modern cannabis come from a time when curiosity about the plant could lead to real problems. With the market now dominated by hybrid genetics, it is a common belief that it is almost impossible to bring anything back to an original cultivar. However, many of these initial building blocks came from the first wave of cannabis exploration, when a handful of growers traveled across continents in search of unique local varieties. Nevil Schoenmakers was one of them, and what he spotted on the side of a highway during a trip to Turkey left a mark on the history of cannabis that has never been erased.

On the way to Turkey
Dwight Diotte of D9 Canna Consulting still remembers those early years. A time when the modern industry was just an idea and the world of cannabis lived in the shadows between one country and another. Everyone in that circle followed clues more than maps, and it all felt like a treasure hunt with pocket knives and curiosity.

So how did cannabis ruderalis enter the cannabis world. The story begins with a road trip. Nevil was moving through Eastern Europe on one of his journeys to find his seed when he saw something strange on a highway in Hungary. The plants, already in flower, stand out against the July heat. He stopped so suddenly that his car screeched. Then he ran across like someone who had just seen a myth pass by.

© Dwight Diotte

He took some branches and dried them in the car heater. He soon realized that what he found was something special. He paused again, and turned around. Turkey could wait. What he had just discovered demanded attention, “and perhaps saved him from a more dangerous detour,” Dwight notes. The Cold War was still very real and the borders of that region were not yet friendly to roving plant hunters.

Sparking the seeds of something new
By the time Dwight saw Nevil the following year in the Netherlands, the seeds of the mystery were already on the table. They were tiny, dark and impossible to germinate with the usual tricks. Dwight remembers gently cracking the pebbles and soaking them as Nevil thought animals might do in the wild. “It felt less like horticulture and more like archaeology,” Dwight recalls.

Once they sprouted, the surprise came quickly. These were no ordinary plants. They went from seed to flower oblivious to the light of day and seemed determined to complete their cycle, encouraged or not. The concept of autoflowering did not yet exist. “Nevil saw the plants blooming on the fifth or seventh node and understood that something new was on the table.”

This was the birth of the modern ruderalis work, although at the time no one was thinking in neat categories. “We were trying to understand what we found.”

Claiming ownership
Dwight wandered between Canada and Europe during those years and witnessed it all. He helped raise funds for what would later become the famous Cannabis Castle, watched the early grow in action and watched Nevil push ruderalis as far as he could before returning to his passion for long-flowering cannabis. “The Finola project was created in the mid-90s and its founders claimed credit for the autoflowering breakthrough, even though the genetics went back to the same region that Nevil had explored, if not the same plants as Nevil himself,” Dwight said.

Everyone involved in that era seemed to reinvent themselves every season. The seed companies changed their names. Growers moved between projects. Some developed legendary cultivars. Others disappeared completely from public life. Through it all, Nevil remained a figure who kept one foot in research mode and the other in business reality. When the Dutch tightened regulations in the nineties, the landscape changed again, and a series of legal dramas followed across continents. “A few years later the dust settled and life moved on, but the seeds of his legacy had already been planted.”

According to Dwight, many of the fog lines that dominate the shelves today have their origins in Nevil. “It’s the same in the autoflowering category. Even after turning his attention away from ruderalis, he produced work that breeders talk about in low tones and reverence.”

Heritage
Dwight still grows ruderalis for fun. He says that plants teach him things. He says that even after forty years they still amaze him. “Nevil Schoenmakers always worked with what he found and let the plants say what they wanted to be. But the evidence is hard to ignore. When the first little black seeds were opened in Hungary, the industry of the future cracked with them. And even today, every time an autoflower appears on a legal shelf anywhere in the world, a small part of that moment is still on the side of the road in Eastern Europe.”

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World Health Organization Won’t Ease Coca Leaf Ban, Even As Review Found Prohibition Is More Dangerous Than The Plant

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14 hours ago

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December 6, 2025

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“It is unacceptable for humanity to demonize a sacred medicinal plant. It was a political decision rather than a scientific one.”

By Mattha Busby, Filter

The The World Health Organization had a historic opportunity to ease the strict global ban on the coca leaf-ban, campaigners said, “racist and colonial” the roots. But the agency has decided not to.

WHO expert review he determined in September how millions of people in the Andes consume the coca leaf daily as part of a long-standing cultural practice without significant negative effects, and conversely that coca control strategies are associated with significant public health harm.

And yet, on December 2nd, the WHO’s Expert Committee on Drug Dependence (ECDD) recommended that the plant be kept in Annex I of the United Nations drug treaties—the most restrictive category of control—because coca leaves can be converted relatively easily into cocaine.

“The simplicity of extracting cocaine from cocaine and its high yield and profitability are well known,” ECDD wrote. “The Commission has also examined evidence of significant increases in the cultivation of cocaine and the production of cocaine-related substances in the context of significant and growing public health concerns about the use of cocaine. In this context, the Commission believes that the reduction or elimination of international controls on the coca leaf may pose a particularly serious risk to public health.”

The commission noted a 34 percent year-on-year increase in cocaine production in 2023, with some countries experiencing historically high levels. But supporters of reform emphasize that coke is not cocaine. They point out that the WHO review supports the plant’s medical potential and the lack of evidence of problematic coca leaf use anywhere in the world — two key criteria a drug must meet to be placed on a less restrictive schedule.

“It is unacceptable for humanity to demonize a sacred medicinal plant”, Jaison Perez Villafaña, guardian of wisdom or mother From the Arhuaco community in Colombia, he said The filter. “It was a political decision rather than a scientific one. Coca leaf (help) is not to blame for the fact that humans with economic interests turned it into cocaine”.

The ECDD said it recognized that “the coca leaf has important cultural and therapeutic value to indigenous peoples and other communities and that there are exceptions to the traditional use of the coca leaf in certain national settings.” A coalition of indigenous coca leaf producers and consumers he wrote The WHO in October asked the UN body to “clearly distinguish” between traditional coca use and cocaine-related issues.

Steve Rolles, senior policy analyst at the Transform Drug Policy Foundation, called the WHO’s suggestion that keeping coca on Schedule 1 would limit cocaine production “ridiculous”, saying the decision exposed the “moral and scientific failure” of drug control worldwide.

“While we might expect them to emerge from political institutions embedded in drug war narratives, there was a sense that the more objective, scientific and nominally independent corners of the UN would maintain a level of pragmatism and principle, even if their recommendations were later rejected by UN political entities.” he wrote It’s LinkedIn.

“The dangers of cocaine powder or smoked crack cocaine, creations of the global North, which is also by far the largest market for both, depend on the traditional use of coca, chewed or in tea, which only occurs in the South,” added Rolles. “It is the global South where the burden of the failed war on cocaine and the criminalization of entire cultures is felt most acutely.”

In 2020, following a WHO recommendation, the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs voted to ease international controls on cannabis, recognizing its medical value after decades of “referral madness”. For reform advocates, the decision represented a slow and delayed shift to evidence-based programming. That is why there was hope that the UN system could also separate the coca leaf — which contains less than 1 percent of the alkaloid cocaine — from the refined powder that feeds global demand.

However, coca will continue to be treated as if it has the same risk profile as cocaine, after a WHO review confirmed that coca chewing has not caused any documented deaths, is not associated with high addiction or “abuse” potential, and has possible therapeutic applications, from anti-inflammatory effects to modest improvements in post-meal glucose.

“The WHO decision is deeply disappointing and disturbing,” Ann Fordham, executive director of the International Council on Drug Policy, said in a press release. “This was no ordinary study, it was a critical test of the UN drug control system. The Commission has demonstrated that it cannot objectively assess the evidence or consider the human rights implications of prohibition. Instead, it has chosen to reinforce the racist and colonial foundations of international drug control. This decision makes it clear that the system is broken and resistant to meaningful reform.”

Experts have long argued that the logic behind the coca ban is selective and ignores existing treaty precedent. Plants such as ephedra used to manufacture methamphetamine, psilocybin-containing mushrooms, and cacti that produce mescaline remain unscheduled at the plant level, although they are used to produce controlled substances.

While open persecution of coca chewers has eased in the Andes, the ban still shapes daily life in parts of the region, from farmers losing crops to stopping aerial fumigation campaigns, eradication forces and communities caught between the networks that dominate the cocaine trade. In a September study, an independent group of experts hired by the WHO said that studies that showed exposure to harmful glyphosate-based pesticides such as Roundup, a probable carcinogen, by aerial spraying of coca crops by authorities “increased the number of abortions and increased the number of medical consultations related to dermatological and respiratory diseases in communities”.

The review added that another study showed that forced coca eradication encouraged coca growers to increase production through the use of toxic agrochemicals “on more or subsequent coca plots, increasing exposure to these chemicals.”

Villafaña and other indigenous leaders have warned that these pressures are cultural violence. Coca is central to Andean communities’ spiritual practice, conflict resolution, work, ceremony, and community health; however, using it outside of the narrow “traditional” exemptions puts people at risk of criminal penalties.

“It would be useful for us as a culture,” said Villafaña, “if the world recognized it as a sacred plant and did not demonize it.” But, he added, the decision would not otherwise affect his community, as its members will continue to chew coca as they have always done.

This the article Originally published by the author the filteran online magazine that deals with drug use, drug policy and human rights from a harm reduction perspective. Keep the filter on Bluesky, X or Facebookand sign up for their newsletter.

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We are full of plans

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2 days ago

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December 5, 2025

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Marc Salvany and Ad van der Vorst:






“We are full of plans,” Agrolux director Marc Salvany told the more than 40 participants who attended the Six Days track cycling event in Rotterdam last Wednesday, invited by Agrolux. They were given a look behind the scenes (and the route), and a moment was set aside to find out how the new management sees the future of the company. “We want to honor the legacy of the Agrolux brand, a brand that many of you have known for so long.”

© Agrolux Nederland BVMarc Salvany and Ad van der Vorst

Paying homage to the brand
Last Wednesday, while the riders on the Ahoy track were cycling around the unbearably slow or lightning-fast track, a special moment was happening in the middle of the cycling track: the introduction of the revamped Agrolux.

Since the end of September, Agrolux has been independent again, and the group has big ambitions for the beginning of this new era. Although it may seem counterintuitive, they will not focus on selling as many devices as possible. Marc explained that it is much more to strengthen relations with the sector and customers. “Many producers have been working with Agrolux for years. These are the long-term partnerships we believe in and the ones we want to continue, because together we can achieve success.”

CEO Ad van der Vorst added that in recent years the company has not been properly organized to support this long-term market vision. “But we’re excited about the horticulture industry, we see it as having tremendous potential, and we’re excited to tackle it.”

In recent months, the team has grown and is investing heavily in product development and innovation. “New software and more modular and sustainable products,” said Ad. But more about that at Fruit Logistic in Berlin, because it was also possible to see it by bike, of course.

View of the track and the center area© Arlette Sijmonsma | MMJDaily.com

© AgroluxWith Sander Verbeek (SV.CO) and Bram Zwinkels (Gavita International BV). Sebastian Mora (left) and Robbe Ghys (right)

For more information:
Gavita International
(email protected)
www.agrolux.com










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