Amid a state challenge to a pair of Nebraska medical marijuana legalization ballot initiatives, a top cannabis law firm has released an analysis projecting that the reform would create over $925 million in economic benefits for the state through 2030.
The analysis for the measures, championed by the campaign Nebraska Families 4 Medical Cannabis (NF4MC), found that the state could see medical marijuana patient registrations exceed 56,000 by 2028 and 93,000 by 2030.
Based on the estimates from Vicente LLP, that translates into more than $152 million in medical cannabis sales by 2030 and over $925 million in new economic activity—including jobs and revenue—by the end of that year.
“If medical cannabis sales begin in mid-2026, Nebraska has the opportunity to generate over $925 million in new economic activity through 2030,” Andrew Livingston, director of economics and research at Vicente LLP, said in a press release on Wednesday.
“Economic activity generated by legal medical cannabis sales supports local workers and their families who in turn spend their paychecks in their communities, benefiting local businesses across the state,” he said.
The analysis comes after Secretary of State Bob Evnen (R) and Attorney General Mike Hilgers (R) challenged the validity of tens of thousands of signatures submitted for the measure, filing legal briefs in a lawsuit alleging “notary malfeasance.”
That’s despite the fact that the secretary of state’s office initially confirmed last month that the legalization campaign had submitted enough signatures to secure ballot placement and formally certified those measure.
“Medical cannabis is not just a lifeline for patients, Initiatives 437 and 438 will benefit local communities throughout Nebraska, generate hundreds of millions in economic activity, and open new business opportunities across the state,” NF4MC Executive Director Crista Eggers said. “Nebraska voters are ready to come together and join the majority of states by regulating cannabis for medical purposes.”
The current challenge that state official joined was raised by former state Sen. John Kuehn (R), who filed a lawsuit in the Lancaster County District Court last month, seeking to invalidate the cannabis proposals on the basis that the campaign allegedly violated procedural rules under the state Constitution and that the reform proposals were preempted by federal law. Kuehn is affiliated with the national prohibitionist group Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) that consistently seeks to undermine state and federal reform efforts.
The pro-legalization campaign had turned in more than 114,000 signatures for each of their proposals in July, and officials said about 89,000 have been verified so far, surpassing the 87,000 signature requirement for ballot placement. They also met the 5 percent threshold for signatures in 51 counties, exceeding the 38 that are required.
This marks the third time activists have 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, so regardless of the legal complications, Friday’s certification comes as welcome news for advocates.
The campaign had prioritized meeting a separate requirement to gather signatures from at least 5 percent of voters in a minimum of 38 counties across the state, and activists were successful to that end.
Activists worked to put medical cannabis on the ballot for two prior election cycles. But the loss of critical funding in the last election cycle and intervention by the state Supreme Court in the prior attempt led to defeat.
The first of the two current ballot initiatives from the campaign would require lawmakers to codify protections for doctors who recommend cannabis and patients who purchase and possess it. The patient-focused measure says that its aim was to “enact a statute that makes penalties inapplicable under state and local law for the use, possession, and acquisition of limited quantities of cannabis for medical purposes by a qualified patient with a written recommendation from a health care practitioner, and for a caregiver to assist a qualified patient in these activities.”
The other initiative would create a new a Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission to provide “necessary registration and regulation of persons that possess, manufacture, distribute, deliver, and dispense cannabis for medical purposes.”
The campaign got an early start on signature gathering this round. In addition to meeting the county-based threshold, activists successfully collected signatures from at least seven percent of registered voters statewide to qualify for the ballot.
Volunteers had been petitioning since last July, about two months after turning in the pair of complementary legalization initiatives to the secretary of state’s office.
Gov. Jim Pillen (R) has voiced opposition to the reform effort, saying last year that legalization “poses demonstrated harms to our children,” and that medical cannabis should only be accessible if its approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
One of NMM’s earlier campaigns 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.
Nebraska lawmakers, including campaign co-chair Sen. Anna Wishart (D), have also attempted to enact the reform legislatively, but cannabis bills have consistently stalled out in the conservative legislature.
Wishart’s medical cannabis bill received a hearing in the unicameral Judiciary Committee last year, but it did not advance. She attributed the inaction to changes in committee membership. An earlier version of the measure ultimately stalled out in the GOP-controlled legislature amid a filibuster that supporters could not overcome.
Meanwhile, two adult-use cannabis legalization bills also received a hearing in the Judiciary Committee in August ahead of a special session convened by the Republican governor. They have not advanced further at this point.
Separately, lawmakers during a special session this summer considered a sweeping property tax relief bill that initially contained a steep new tax on consumable hemp and CBD products, but that provision was removed prior to final passage.
A prior tax bill for the earlier regular session initially contained a 100 percent tax rate on consumable hemp products. But following industry and consumer pushback, the proposed rate was reduced to 30 percent for the special session before being taken out of the bill.
Photo courtesy of Mike Latimer.
Amid a state challenge to a pair of Nebraska medical marijuana legalization ballot initiatives, a top cannabis law firm has released an analysis projecting that the reform would create over $925 million in economic benefits for the state through 2030. The analysis for the measures, championed by the campaign Nebraska Families 4 Medical Cannabis (NF4MC), Read More