On Wednesday, Nebraska activists began a fund-raising campaign to help them get two medical marijuana initiatives onto the 2024 state ballot.
Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana has started to circulate petitions, and has said that it has reached the signature threshold in two counties by late August. The campaign’s Wednesday kickoff in Lincoln was intended to help overcome a major challenge it faced last summer: the loss critical funding following the death of a donor in a plane accident.
The third time NMM is attempting to bring the reform measure to voters, activists are confident they will have the grassroots support to win this round.
It was always clear that we’d be back a third. We cannot give up; we fight for the lives of people,” said Crista Eggers in a Wednesday press release. “We began collecting earlier than ever before, to ensure we had time on our side.” We are determined to get this on the ballot.
The event, which took place on Wednesday, featured some of the patients, caregivers, and activists who have been involved with the medical marijuana effort to date, along with Eggers, NMM cochairs Sen. Anna Wishart, (D), and former Sen. Adam Morfeld, (D).
According to the Nebraska Examiner, Morfeld told that there were people who had loved ones still alive and suffering.
The campaign set an ambitious target to collect signatures of at least 5 percent of registered voters from 38 counties before the end of this year. They’ve already checked off two counties. Now, the plan is to use this fundraising kickoff as a way to recruit new volunteers, distribute materials for the campaign and explain the strategy to activists.
Wishart stated that even if they do not get all the counties before the end of the year, they hope to get at least a “huge portion.”
All our partners are important to us in the fight against medical injustice and for compassion in our state.
Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana August 26 2023 HTML0
To make it on the ballot for November 2024, the campaign must collect 87,000 valid signatures total from registered voters per petition (in addition to the county goal) and turn them in before July 5, 2024.
The first initiative requires lawmakers to codify the protections for doctors that recommend cannabis, and patients who buy and possess it – essentially creating qualified immunity. The measure focuses on patients and aims to “enact legislation that will make penalties unapplicable to a patient who has a doctor’s written recommendation for limited amounts of cannabis to be used for medical purposes, or a caregiver who assists a patient to do so.”
Most of us have a close friend or family member who suffers from a serious illness. @NebraskaMJ wants to put medical cannabis on Nebraska’s ballot in 2024 so that Nebraskans can decide whether they want this option. This Wednesday, join us and the NMM Team. https://t.co/qlPWVWhleU pic.twitter.com/x3vFuXMppY
Nebraska Democratic Party 9 September 2023 HTML0
The second initiative would establish a Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission that would “provide necessary registration and regulation for persons who possess, manufacture and distribute cannabis for medical use, as well as those who deliver and dispense it.”
What’s more, Gov. Jim Pillen (R), in a recent statement, voiced his opposition to cannabis reform. He said that “access to medicinal marijuana should only be possible if it’s been approved by the FDA.”
He said that legalization is harmful to children.
Eggers, NMM’s campaign manager, claims that she is fighting for children like her own son who has a severe seizure disorder. Medical cannabis could help him.
She said, “I know that my child is dying because he has had horrific seizures every day for the past five or six years.”
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NMM first submitted petitions for cannabis reform initiatives to the Secretary of State’s Office in may, and supporters began collecting signatures in July .
After a single-subject appeal, the state Supreme Court invalidated the measure. The supporters were unable to gather enough signatures for the revised petitions , largely due to the fact that their funding was lost after a key donor perished in a plane accident.
Nebraska lawmakers have tried to pass the cannabis reform, including co-chair Wishart. However, the conservative legislature has consistently blocked the bills.
Wishart’s bill for medical cannabis was heard by the unicameral Judiciary Committee, but did not progress. She blamed the lack of action on changes to committee membership. A previous version of the measure ultimately failed to pass in the GOP-controlled Legislature due to a filibuster.
The senator stated that she has “one last shot” before her term ends next year to pass the reform bill.
Wishart stated, “I don’t think there’s any chance that the bill will pass. So we’re going with the vote drive.”
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Photo by Mike Latimer.
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