Nebraska activists have begun collecting signatures for two medical marijuana initiatives that will appear on the ballot in 2024.
Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana is in petitioning mode, and they are looking for donations and volunteers. This grassroots effort began about two months ago after submitted the petitions at the Secretary of State’s Office.
The campaign is making its third attempt to let voters decide whether medical cannabis should be legalized. The state Supreme Court invalidated the measure after a single-subject challenge. Advocates had collected enough signatures to place the measure on the 2020 ballot. They fell short of signatures on revised petitions due to a loss in funding for 2022.
NMM sent an email to its supporters last week saying, “This time we’re going early.” Our deadline for collecting enough valid signatures to qualify is July 3, 2024. We won’t let up.
Nebraska legislators, including NMM Co-chair Sen. Anna Wishart, have also tried to enact this reform through legislation, but cannabis bills in the conservative Nebraska legislature have always stalled.
The group said in an email that “we have no other choice than to continue petitioning the government.” The Legislature has refused to act, despite the fact that the majority of Nebraskans — from all parties, regions and ages — support legalizing medical cannabis, which could transform the lives of thousands.
Wishart’s bill for medical cannabis was heard by the Judiciary Committee of the unicameral parliament in February but did not progress. She blamed the lack of action on turnover and changes to membership. A previous version of the measure ultimately failed to pass in the GOP-controlled Legislature due to a filibuster.
Now activists are gearing up for a one-year signature drive. They have a Volunteer page which shows where they will be collecting signatures, including weekly appearances in Omaha at a Farmers Market.
The first of two ballot initiatives in the current campaign would require legislators to codify the protections for both doctors who recommend and patients who buy and possess cannabis. The measure focuses on patients and aims to “enact legislation that will make penalties unapplicable to state and local laws for the use of, possession of, and acquisition by qualified patients of limited amounts of cannabis for medicinal purposes with a recommendation from a healthcare practitioner.”
The second initiative would establish a Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission that would “provide registration and regulation for persons who possess, manufacture and distribute cannabis for medical use, as well as those who deliver and dispense it.”
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The complementary proposals will be focused on a specific subject to avoid the same challenges that slowed down the reform drive in 2020.
To make it on the ballot for November 2024, the campaign must collect approximately 87,000 valid signatures of registered voters per petition by July 5, 2024.
The campaign implied that after the failure of the medical cannabis initiative in 2022 they may pursue a legalization initiative for adult use. It appears the strategy is centered on medical marijuana only.
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Photo by Mike Latimer.
The article Nebraska Activists launch signature gathering for 2024 medical marijuana legalization ballot initiatives first appeared on Marijuana Moment.
