Medical Marijuana Legalization Petition Ready For Nebraska Ballot, Dying Hospice Patient Signs On Deadline Day

Nebraska cannabis activists garnered enough signatures to place two petitions to legalize medical marijuana on the November 2024 ballot.

The first petition would require state politicians to pass laws protecting physicians who recommend medical cannabis and patients who need it. The second would impose legislation to set up rules for the medical cannabis program.

Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana collected signatures "until the very last moment" on Wednesday, July 3, a deadline to submit both petitions to the Secretary of States Office, before turning in over 114,000 for each by mid-afternoon, reported Nebraska Examiner.

For the initiative to appear on the ballot, NMM had to submit 86,500 verified voter signatures, a goal activists failed to reach in 2020 and again in 2022.

Crista Eggers, campaign manager of NMM, praised the achievement.

"You can never have enough, never have enough, but it was amazing to collect until the very last moment to allow every Nebraskan out there that could get to us and wanted to sign, to sign," Eggers told reporters on the heels of signing an affidavit to submit the signatures.

On Wednesday she told reporters about a man who brought his wife from Douglas County, a hospice patient with only a few days to live to sign the petition during the campaign's final hours.
"I think that can summarize the grit, determination, drive and motivation of this petition drive," Eggers said.

Read Also: Nebraska Senate Hopeful And Union Leader At First Says No, But Then Opens Up About Trying Marijuana

Eggers earlier explained why it has been difficult to reach the signature threshold to bring the issue before voters.

“In the state of Nebraska, if you don’t have millions upon millions of dollars, it's very difficult — downright almost impossible — to gather the necessary signatures and qualify for the ballot,” Eggers told KLIN News. “I think that should make people very, very upset.”

On Wednesday she told reporters about a man who brought his wife from Douglas County, a hospice patient with only a few days to live to sign the petition during the campaign's final hours.

"I think that can summarize the grit, determination, drive and motivation of this petition drive," Eggers said.

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• Nebraska Senate Hopeful And Union Leader At First Says No, But Then Opens Up About Trying Marijuana