Nebraska voters approved a pair of medical marijuana legalization ballot measures on Tuesday—even as the two complementary initiatives to enact the reform sit in legal limbo amid court challenges from opponents.
Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana (NMM) turned in more than 114,000 signatures for each of their proposals in July. If ultimately enacted despite the ongoing legal challenges, they will require lawmakers to provide statutory protections for qualified patients to possess and use cannabis if they obtain a doctor’s recommendation, while setting up a commission to create a regulatory framework for a state medical marijuana program.
This marks the third time the campaign has attempted to let voters decide on medical cannabis legalization in recent years. Advocates have faced repeated setbacks in their push for cannabis reform in prior election cycles, but they’ve finally succeeded, notwithstanding the uncertainty caused by pending litigation.
An earlier campaign gathered enough signatures for ballot placement in 2020, but the measure was invalidated by the state Supreme Court following a single-subject challenge. Supporters then came up short on signatures for revised petitions in 2022 due in large part to the loss of funding after one of their key donors died in a plane crash.
What Initiative
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