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.

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.

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.

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