Measures to legalize medical marijuana in Nebraska can appear on November ballot, official says

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A group seeking to legalize marijuana for medical use in Nebraska has gathered enough signatures to get the issue before voters in November, the state’s top election official said Friday.

Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana announced earlier this year that it had gathered about 114,000 signatures — well more than the approximately 86,000 needed — for each of two petitions: one that would allow marijuana for medical use and the other to regulate the medical marijuana industry in the state.

Signatures must also be collected from 5% of the registered voters in at least 38 of Nebraska’s 93 counties to qualify for the ballot.

Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnen said his office has so far verified more than 89,000 signatures for each and that both petitions met the 5% threshold in 51 counties.

Evnen said county election officials are still in the process of verifying signatures on the petitions, and so he has not yet certified the ballot measures. If the count reaches 110% of the total number of signatures needed, officials will stop verifying signatures and certify the petitions for the November ballot.

The deadline to certify the November ballot is Sept. 13.

It’s the third effort by Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana to get the issue on the ballot.

In 2020, the group came close after meeting signature requirements. But opponents sued, arguing that it violated state rules requiring ballot measures to focus on a single question. Instead, they argued, the measure posed two separate questions: whether residents should have the right to use marijuana for medical purposes, and whether private companies should be allowed to grow and sell it.

The state Supreme Court sided with the effort’s opponents and prevented it from going to voters.

In 2022, with only months to do so, organizers failed to collect enough signatures to get the question on the November ballot.

“After years of hard work, we are beyond excited that Nebraskans will finally have the opportunity to have their voices heard on this issue in November,” said Crista Eggers, Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana’s campaign manager. “Our fight has been long, it has been hard, but we have never given up. Today we celebrate that very soon, patients in this state will have access to medical cannabis treatment.”

Lancaster County Sheriff Terry Wagner, who initially brought the lawsuit that saw the measure kicked off the ballot in 2020, remains opposed to legalizing medical marijuana, saying it “numbs down the public perception of the harm marijuana does.”

“It’s a gateway to recreational marijuana,” Wagner said Friday. “It’s not medicine; it’s a weed. If it were to be approved by the FDA, then my view might change.”

In May, the federal government began a process to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug.

Dozens of states have legalized marijuana for either medical or recreational use, most recently in Ohio last November. This fall, voters will weigh in on legalizing recreational marijuana in North Dakota, South Dakota and Florida.