Updated at 6:16 a.m. CT Nov. 6
Nebraskans want medical cannabis legalized—that much is clear following Tuesday’s election. Whether a district court judge will uphold the voter’s will remains unknown.
Voters in the Cornhusker State supported a pair of complementary statutory initiatives to legalize medical cannabis and provide for a commercial market with 71% and 67% majorities on Nov. 5, according to unofficial election results from the Nebraska secretary of state with 100% of votes counted as of 5:30 a.m. CT on Nov. 6.
With 71% support, Measure 437 intends to protect medical cannabis patients and their caregivers from criminal charges and prosecution by legalizing up to 5 ounces of medical cannabis for those with a written recommendation from a health care practitioner.
And with 67% support, Measure 438 aims to adopt state law to establish a framework for licensed businesses to provide tested cannabis products to qualifying patients under the authority of the Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission. Under the measure, the commission is tasked with adopting cannabis industry regulations by July 1, 2025, and awarding licenses for a commercial marketplace by Oct. 1, 2025.
Both measures are sponsored by Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana (NMM), a committee led by campaign manager Crista Eggers, Democratic state Sen. Anna Wishart and former Democratic state Sen. Adam Morfeld.
While this election night resembles a victory for cannabis advocates, the possibility of Nebraska officially becoming the 39th state in the nation to legalize medical cannabis now hangs in the balance of a courtroom decision.
Whether Nebraska’s voter-approved measures become the laws of the land depends on a ruling from Lancaster County District Court Judge Susan Strong, who is weighing prohibitionist claims by former Republican state Sen. John Kuehn about the validity of the signatures collected.
Kuehn filed the lawsuit on Sept. 12, the day before Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnen certified NMM’s signatures for measures 437 and 438, stating each petition collected nearly 90,000 valid signatures. Each petition needed 86,499 valid signatures—a threshold based on 7% of registered voters in the state—to appear on the statewide ballot.
However, Kuehn argues in Lancaster County that “numerous signatures … are invalid and were unlawfully accepted by the secretary,” suggesting that certain signers were not registered to vote, signed a petition more than once or did not properly fill out their information on the petition, among other legal claims.
After the civil trial began on Oct. 29 with oral arguments from the litigants, and after witness testimonies resumed throughout the latter half of last week, Strong ruled on Nov. 1 that election results for measures 437 and 438 were to be tabulated and made public while the lawsuit remains ongoing, the Nebraska Examinerreported.
But Kuehn can still prevail in his pursuit to invalidate the election results as his legal team worked with the Nebraska attorney general’s office, which argued on Evnen’s behalf in challenging nearly 80,000 petition signatures that the state secretary already validated, according to the news outlet. Stong’s final decision isn’t expected until at least two weeks after the election.
Specifically, the state is challenging whether NMM signature collectors followed the law in notarizing the petitions for measures 437 and 438, a process that must be done with the physical presence of the person who signs an oath swearing to the validity of the signatures collected.
As of Nov. 1, the attorney general’s office had indicated it identified more than 1,100 instances where signatures were incorrectly notarized—not enough to drop the nearly 90,000 certified signatures below the required 86,499-valid-signature threshold. However, the plaintiffs argue that all signatures connected to petition circulators who had at least one instance of wrongdoing should be tossed.
While this is NMM’s third attempt to legalize medical cannabis in the Cornhusker State, 2024 marks the first time the group was successful in placing a measure on the ballot.
In 2020, NMM gathered enough valid signatures to land on the ballot, but the Nebraska Supreme Court struck down the certified measure that September, ruling that it violated the state’s single-subject rule—the main reason there are two separate measures this year.
And in 2022, the group faced a financial setback when one primary donor died in a plane crash and another was diagnosed with a terminal illness. Canvassers fell short of collecting enough signatures to meet the state and county requirements that year.
“Today’s decision by Nebraska voters marks the end of unnecessary delays and the beginning of a modern medical cannabis program rooted in proven health care practices,” Greenlight CEO John Mueller said in a statement provided to Cannabis Business Times.
A Missouri-based multistate cannabis operator, Greenlight has intentions to possibly enter Nebraska’s forthcoming medical market.
“Greenlight invested heavily in this initiative because we’ve seen firsthand what works in medical markets across the country and are fully committed to providing patients with high-quality, trusted cannabis products that meet rigorous standards,” Mueller said. “This program will transform lives in Nebraska, creating professional opportunities while ensuring patients receive thoroughly tested, regulated medicine.”
Now, following the 2024 election, NMM’s legalization battle shifts toward ensuring the voice of Nebraska voters holds up in court.
Nebraska remains one of nine prohibitionist states in the U.S. where not even a restrictive medical cannabis program exists—such as a 1% THC limit in Texas—yet its residents 21 and older can travel across state lines to Colorado or Missouri to legally purchase cannabis at a licensed adult-use dispensary; they just can’t legally bring it back home.
Under current Nebraska law, possessing less than an ounce of cannabis is decriminalized for the first offense but is considered a misdemeanor penalty on subsequent offenses. Meanwhile, possessing more than 1 ounce is a misdemeanor punishable by up to three months in prison, and possessing more than 1 pound is a felony punishable by up to two years in prison.
Those penalties do not discriminate between medical patients and adult-use consumers.
Should Tuesday’s election results stand, patients in Nebraska will gain legal access to an alternative form of relief for their medical conditions.
A district court judge could invalidate the election results if she rules in favor of a challenge to the sponsor’s signature collection methods. Read More