The bill (LB643), introduced and fought for by Sen. Tommy Garrett of Bellevue, was stonewalled on the second round of consideration and then went down when 33 votes to end the extended debate became out of reach.

Garrett said he thought he had the votes, but several people backed out and in the end, he only got 30.

All along, Garrett initiated the vote for the families, children, and veterans that appealed for the opportunity to be allowed to have the treatment thet thought was right for them.

“We had an opportunity to help people,” Garrett said.

Garrett said the only explanation he had for the defeat of the bill was that some senators were “stuck on stupid.”

Opponents of the bill argued that it had been amended to he point where it wasn’t the same bill that was introduced and needed to go back to the Judiciary Committee for a new hearing. They also claimed that the science needed to catch up to the drug before it could be approved for medical use.

Making public policy is not easy, but it cannot be emotional, said Sen. Matt Williams of Gothenburg, who led the filibuster. In public policy, decisions should not be made for the few, but for the larger state.

Several senators who supported the bill said they believed that if it was defeated by the Legislature, it would be brought to voters through a ballot initiative. The Legislature would then lose control of its regulation.

“If this bill fails, it’s on the ballot,” said Lincoln Sen. Colby Coash. “And if it’s on the ballot, hold on to your hat.”

Senators adopted amendments to the bill before its ultimate defeat; one by Omaha Sen. Sara Howard would have tightly regulated the use of medical cannabis in the state, and another by Omaha Sen heath Mello would have allocated $2.4 million from the Nebraska Health Care Cash Fund for the bill’s implementation.

The bill as amended would have allowed medical cannabis in pill, oil or liquid form, but no smoking. Only a medical provider could certify a patient’s qualification for the medication.

Medical cannabis products would have to be acquired, possessed and dispensed through compassion centers, one per congressional district and registered by the Department of Health and Human Services.

Garrett said he believed the majority of Nebraskans believe it to be a good idea.

He hopes it will be brought back as a ballot issue.

“Power to the people,” he said.

How they voted

A motion to stop a filibuster on a medical cannabis legalization bill (LB643) failed Tuesday night, putting the bill to rest for the session. Thirty-three votes were needed to stop debate and force a vote on the bill.

Details of the vote:

Voting yes (30): Baker, Bloomfield, Bolz, Campbell, Chambers, Coash, Cook, Craighead, Crawford, Ebke, Garrett, K. Haar, Hadley, Hansen, B. Harr, Hilkemann, Howard, Kolowski, Krist, Larson, Lindstrom, McCollister, Mello, Morfeld, Murante, Pansing Brooks, Shilz, Schumacher, Smith, Sullivan

Voting no (15): Brasch, Fox, Friesen, Groene, Hughes, Johnson, Kintner, Kolterman, Kuehn, McCoy, Riepe, Seiler, Stinner, Watermeier, Williams

Present not voting (2): Davis, Scheer

Excused (2): Gloor, Schnoor

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Nebraska and Oklahoma claimed that Colorado’s decriminalization has “increases the flow of marijuana over their borders,” forcing them to expend greater “law enforcement, judicial system, and penal system resources,” thereby harming the welfare of their residents.

They claimed to suffer a “direct and significant detrimental impact – namely the diversion of limited manpower and resources to arrest and process suspected and convicted felons involved in the increased marijuana trafficking or transportation.”

They argued that Colorado’s approach is in direct conflict with federal law, which makes it illegal to posses even small amount of marijuana.

The court turned the case away in an unsigned opinion. Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented. Thomas, writing for them both, said court should have taken the case because “the plaintiff states have made a reasonable case.”

There were no lower court decisions, because disputes between the states come directly to the Supreme Court.

Nebraska and Oklahoma did not challenge Colorado’s legalization itself. Instead they claimed it is the way it regulates the manufacture, possession, and distribution of marijuana was causing them harm.

However, Colorado said its neighboring states real quarrel is with the federal government’s policy of declining to prosecute cases of simple possession in states where marijuana use has been legalized. It also said that those states should sue the federal government and not Colorado.

Colorado said, “A state does not violate the sovereign rights of another state, by making a policy decision that parts ways with its neighbors.”

The Obama Justice Department urged the Supreme Court not to take the case. “Entertaining the type of dipute at issue here – essentially that one state’s laws make it more likely that third parties will violate federal and state law in another state – would represent a substantial and unwarranted expansion of” of the Supreme Court’s jurisdiction.

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