Medical marijuana advocates turn in signatures seeking Nebraska ballot access

Crista Eggers, center, signs an affidavit pledging that the Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana campaign had gathered enough signatures for Nebraska's fall election. Eggers is joined by her husband, Easton, and sons Carsten, 11, and Colton, 9, from left. July 3, 2024. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)

LINCOLN — Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana collected signatures “until the very last moment” Wednesday before turning in more than 114,000 for each of its two petitions by mid-afternoon.

The 2024 campaign marks the group’s third try . Crista Eggers, the statewide campaign manager, has a personal stake in changing the law: She wants to help her 9 -year-old son Colton who has epilepsy and severe seizures.

The campaign needs about 86,500 signatures from registered voters to be verified statewide, of which the total must include signatures from at least 5% of voters in 38 of the state’s 93 counties.

“You can never have enough, never have enough, but it was amazing to collect until the very last moment to allow every Nebraskan out there that could get to us and wanted to sign, to sign,” Eggers told reporters after signing a sworn affidavit to turn in the signatures.

Final day-of blitz

The campaign hosted two final events Wednesday at Wine, Beer and Spirits locations in Omaha and Lincoln in a last-second blitz to collect and count signatures. Eggers said the group collected 2,500 signatures for each petition Wednesday morning.

Eggers told reports that in the final hours of campaigning, a man brought his wife to one of the locations to sign the petition. Eggers said the woman, from Douglas County, is in hospice and has as little as 48 hours to live.

“I think that can summarize the grit, determination, drive and motivation of this petition drive,” Eggers said.

Typically, about 15% to 30% of signatures collected for initiative petitions might be tossed during the verification process involving state and local election officials.

That’s why the campaign’s recent efforts focused on obtaining more signatures than needed as a precaution. The campaign first tackled the 38-county requirement before collecting bulk signatures.

Third campaign attempt

Former State Sen. Adam Morfeld and State Sen. Anna Wishart, both of Lincoln, started the group with Eggers in 2019 and joined her to turn in the signatures. Wishart had tried to legalize and regulate medical marijuana in the Legislature but fell a couple of votes short. She said the campaign is confident based on strong polling from Nebraskans that indicates they support the issue no matter their geography, political affiliation or age.

“It’s amazing the diversity of people you run into who know somebody who would benefit from having access,” Wishart said.

The campaign’s past efforts faced challenges, the most major of which came in 2020 when the Nebraska Supreme Court threw out the ballot language, arguing that year’s petition contained two subjects: regulation and legalization. In 2022, the campaign didn’t collect enough signatures.

Nine months ago, the group split the 2024 campaign into two separate petitions, as the Supreme Court had suggested, seeking to make the third time the charm.

Through each of the campaigns and the various petitions, Eggers said the group had collected more than 750,000 signatures.

“I am so glad to be done and to have this behind us, and we’re ready to look forward to what’s next,” Eggers said. “Obviously all of us hope that’s certification and a spot on the ballot in November.”

Future of the campaign

The Nebraska Secretary of State’s Office will next distribute signatures to respective county election officials statewide. Once received, county officials will have 40 days to verify and return the signatures. The petition language then goes to the Nebraska Attorney General’s Office for review, one of the last hurdles before the November ballot.

Attorney General Mike Hilgers has opposed the federally created loophole that has allowed Delta-8 sales. He has filed state lawsuits against retailers and encouraged restrictive state legislation.

Gov. Jim Pillen opposed Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana when the campaign started in September, telling the Nebraska Examiner that marijuana “poses demonstrated harms to our children.” He said medical marijuana should happen only with the approval of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The U.S. Department of Justice has formally moved to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug, which could aid possible FDA approval. Thirty-eight states have legalized medical marijuana, while 24 of them, plus Washington, D.C., have also legalized recreational use. The other states, including Nebraska, allow limited access to cannabis products with little to no THC, according to the Pew Research Center .

Eggers held her son Colton’s hand while talking with reporters Wednesday. She reflected on what the campaign could mean for her family and other Nebraskans.

“I think the day that all of the advocates and patients and caregivers, the kids, the day that we will know we did our job and … that gives me so much hope, is the day that a mom doesn’t have to run a petition drive to get their child medicine,” Eggers said, holding back tears.

“Someday a mom will go into the doctor’s office and they will be able to get a recommendation for cannabis, and that day will be all worth it.”

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