Board can’t reclassify marijuana
By Paul Hammel, WORLD-HERALD BUREAU
LINCOLN — Proponents of legalizing marijuana for medical use will have to look elsewhere to sell their message.
The Nebraska Board of Pharmacy decided Monday that it lacked the authority to reclassify marijuana as a drug that could be legally prescribed.
That is a decision for a federal agency such as the Drug Enforcement Administration or the Food and Drug Administration, said Rick Zarek, a Gothenburg, Neb., pharmacist who heads the State Pharmacy Board.
“There’s nothing the Board of Pharmacy can do as long as it’s listed as a Schedule 1 drug and ineligible for dispensing,” Zarek said.
Schedule 1 drugs, by federal law, cannot be prescribed because they are potentially addictive and have no medical use.
