Is There Still Hope For Nebraska's MMJ Legalization Initiative? Signatures To Get A Second Look

Just days after the Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnen announced that Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana (NMM) failed to submit enough valid signatures to place two medical marijuana initiatives on the November ballot, officials agreed to revisit the matter, reported Nebraska Examiner.

However, cannabis activists are advised not to have high hopes, as their petition drive lacked the requirements to qualify for a spot on the November ballot, officials said.

“The determination regarding the legal sufficiency of the petitions provided on Monday … still stands,” Colleen Bydick, an attorney with the Secretary of State’s Office wrote in an email Wednesday to Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana.

The campaign, which previously lacked funding, sought to get a pair of medical cannabis proposals that would require lawmakers to pass laws protecting physicians who recommend MMJ treatment and patients who use it and impose legislature to set up rules for the program. The state said the campaign was roughly 10,000 signatures short for each measure.

Crista Eggers, the organizer behind the petition drive, who is now considering placing the adult-use legalization question on the 2024 ballot as a way to appeal to those with more funds, said that officials agreed to take another look at some of the signatures that had been disqualified.

“After analyzing the data from the Secretary of State’s Office, it came to our attention that not all the signatures have been put through the complete validation process,” Eggers said. “We believe that it’s essential that every signature from every Nebraskan be counted.”

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