Medical marijuana could be on Nebraska's ballot - if advocates get 30,000 more signatures

Nebraskans might find medical marijuana legalization on the ballot in November as a petition effort to put the issue in front of voters is nearing completion, but it still faces some hurdles to overcome.

While medical cannabis is legal in 38 states, the Cornhusker State is making its third attempt to legalize it. With less than a month left, the Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana group is sounding alarm bells as they need 30,000 more signatures to qualify for November’s ballot.

Campaign manager Crista Eggers says despite the distance they have to go, there is broad support for the effort across the state. She also has a personal connection as her 9-year-old son has epilepsy and severe seizures, which medical cannabis could help treat.

“I think voters are very frustrated and fed up,” she said. “This isn’t a political campaign. This is literally a group of advocates and patients, caregivers, people with very sick children and sick family members, they are the ones running this.”

The group is currently gathering signatures for two initiatives that aim to decriminalize and regulate the distribution of cannabis. One initiative would protect doctors who recommend cannabis for medical treatment. In contrast, the second one aims to establish a system for regulating the production and distribution of cannabis in the state.

Nebraska is one of three states, including Idaho and Kansas, that don’t legalize any form of marijuana or cannabis for medical purposes or recreational use. Like in other states, Nebraska citizens took the reigns of marijuana legalization into their own hands while the state Legislature has made it clear that it won’t.

“Forty-seven other states in the nation have successfully implemented medical cannabis programs so that sick patients are able to have access with a doctor’s guidance and recommendation, and Nebraska has failed to do this,” Eggers said. “The state elected officials have failed to do this. The people of the state support this, and so it’s well past time to do this.”

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Many lawmakers in the Cornhusker state are staunch opponents of any form of marijuana legalization, including former governor and current U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts. In 2021, he told reporters, “If you legalize marijuana, you’re gonna kill your kids,” as the Nebraska Legislature was considering a bill that would legalize medical cannabis if recommended by a healthcare provider.

The group came close to the signature requirement during their first petition effort in 2020, but the state Supreme Court struck it down because it violated a state rule requiring ballot referendums to be single questions when it included two.

A second push by the group in 2022 fell flat after they failed to gather enough signatures.

But a third time could be the charm if advocates can muster up the rest of the required signatures. Eggers says the petition is closer to getting on the ballot than last time but admits that they urgently need signatures. Part of the difficulty is funding signature collection, especially in rural parts of the state, where it takes a lot of time and effort to reach signers, with 20 miles between houses in some counties.

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This time around, the group focused on checking off county requirements, and they are now in their bulk signature collection phase. Though they are paying petition circulators, volunteers make up a large part of the campaign, according to Eggers.

“We’re using volunteers, and that definitely, I think it makes our campaign unique,” Eggers said. “It shows the drive and motivation, and support for the issue that we do have so many able to collect for nothing, but it’s just not enough unfortunately. That’s why we don’t have all of our signatures yet, we’re diligently trying to raise money at this time.”

The petition needs to collect 87,000 signatures from registered voters, including 5% of Nebraskans in 38 of the state’s 93 counties.

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Cannabis legalization on the 2024 ballot

Recreational marijuana is already legal in 24 states and the District of Columbia, but voters in multiple states will still decide on it this election, including in South Dakota and Florida, where forms of medical cannabis are already legalized.

Jay Wexler, a marijuana law and policy expert and professor at Boston University, said the national consensus around medical marijuana has come a long way in the last decade, especially if it has a chance of appearing on the ballot in a state like Nebraska.

“It shows that even the most reluctant states are coming around to the idea that cannabis is not only not a very dangerous drug, but it also has significant benefits for a whole range of medical conditions, both regarding physical health and mental health,” Wexler said.

“I think it’s been a slow process, but the fact that one of the last holdouts is, perhaps, on the threshold of legalizing is a really hopeful sign,” he added.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Medical marijuana could be on Nebraska's ballot come elections