Efforts to legalize medical cannabis in Nebraska have officially been approved for the November election, despite a lawsuit and a statewide review of the validity of collected signatures.
Bob Evnen, the secretary of state, announced on Sept. 14, 2024, that the group Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana had gathered an estimated 90,000 legitimate signatures. The announcement was made precisely one year from receiving the signature initiative’s third effort in 2023, which coincided with the finalization of the November 5 ballot.
Evnen mentioned that the procedure for gathering signatures had sparked questions, which the office of Attorney General Mike Hilgers was looking into. One person so far who participated in obtaining signatures faces felony charges as part of the investigation.
Crista Eggers, statewide campaign manager for the medical marijuana proposal, thanked Hilgers and municipal leaders for maintaining openness throughout the petition process. She expressed gratitude to officials for resolving any differences and maintaining the credibility of the public initiative process.
One of the measures — the Nebraska Medical Marijuana Regulation Act — aims to legalize the possession, production, distribution and sale of marijuana for medical use. It also proposes creating the Nebraska Medical Marijuana Commission, which would be responsible for regulating cannabis in the state. If the legislation passes, the commission would be required to establish guidelines for approving or rejecting applications from marijuana-related businesses by July next year, with the first licenses being issued by October 2025.
The second measure — the Nebraska Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act — seeks to authorize patients to possess a maximum of five ounces of medical marijuana. This measure would also exempt caregivers from legal consequences for helping patients use marijuana and require written recommendations from healthcare providers. For minors, this recommendation would also need to come from a parent or legal guardian.
State law mandates that initiative petitions have valid signatures from at least 7% of Nebraska’s 86,500 registered voters, with at least 5% of the voters in 38 of the 93 counties in the state. Nearly 90,000 of the 114,000 signatures that the campaign presented in July were validated, surpassing the 5% level that was necessary in 52 counties.
However, the campaign is currently facing a legal challenge filed by John Kuehn, a rancher and veterinarian from Heartwell, who previously served in the state legislature. Kuehn claims that Evnen’s office has not provided access to the petition pages as requested under a public records law. He is seeking an independent review of those signatures and has asked the Lancaster County District Court to stop the measures from going before voters or stop the state from certifying any resultant polls results.
Kuehn’s lawsuit also argues that the campaign did not gather enough legitimate signatures and that the proposed measures represent an unconstitutional transfer of regulatory power from the Legislature. Furthermore, the lawsuit challenges the initiatives, stating that cannabis’ classification as a schedule 1 substance under federal law prevents the measures from being enacted.
Cannabis enterprises such as Tilray Brands Inc. (NASDAQ: TLRY) (TSX: TLRY) may regard some of the arguments in the lawsuit to be far-fetched, given that several states have legalized medical and even recreational marijuana despite its current federal classification.
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