Future of Nebraska’s Latest Efforts to Legalize Medical Cannabis to be Decided Next Week

The future of Nebraska’s latest attempt to legalize medical cannabis is set to be decided next week by a state court judge.

Earlier this month, Business of Cannabis reported that Nebraska is set to vote on two key cannabis initiatives during the November presidential elections after each passed the threshold of signatures needed to place them on the ballot.

Among these are the Nebraska Medical Cannabis Patient Initiative, that would seek to protect medical cannabis patients and their cargivers from facing legal recourse due to their medical cannabis usage.

A second initiative, the Nebraska Medical Regulation Initiative, seeks to create a state Medical Cannabis Commission to regulate medical cannabis businesses across the state.

Two weeks after this was announced, former state senator and ex-member of the Nebraska State Board of Health, John Kuehn, filed a legal challenge aimed at blocking two medical cannabis bills from appearing on the ballot.

Now, a Lancaster County District Court judge has said she intends to make an announcement on her decision whether to dismiss the law suit next week.

Kuehn’s lawsuit aims to invalidate the signatures used to certify the petitions which have allowed these bills to go on the upcoming ballot, claiming that more than 16,000 were improperly counted due to issues surrounding unpaid circulators, unregistered voters and invalid notarizations.

During a 20-minute initial briefing, Judge Susan Strong indicated she intends to move quickly, with a decision expected by the end of the week.

“Hopefully we can all work together and resolve these claims as expeditiously as possible, hopefully before the election, though I understand we don’t have to,” Strong said.

The bill’s advocates are also pushing for a resolution to be reached before the November election, dismissing Kuehn’s lawsuit as unfairly questioning the integrity of election officials.

In a brief filed with the court, they argued that Kuehn is seeking to impose an overly strict and narrow interpretation of the initiative process, which could threaten the state’s broader ballot measure process.

Initially, Kuehn, a longtime cannabis skeptic, filed seven separate charges, but has now reduced these to just four.

He was forced to drop a claim a claim that Nebraska could not legalize cannabis because the federal government still classifies it as a Schedule I drug. His remaining allegations focus on violations of state laws, particularly in how signatures were gathered and certified.

Meanwhile, Secretary of State Evnen has expressed confidence in the petition certification process but has asked the court to determine the actual number of valid signatures. His office certified the cannabis petitions on September 13, validating nearly 90,000 signatures—just over the threshold of 86,499 needed across two petitions to qualify for the ballot.