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Nebraska activists say they\u2019ve met a key signature gathering requirement to place a pair of medical marijuana legalization initiatives on the state\u2019s November ballot<\/a>.<\/p>\n In an email blast to supporters on Tuesday, Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana (NMM) said they\u2019ve now collected valid petitions from at least five percent of registered voters in 38 of the state\u2019s 93 counties\u2014one of the main requirements to qualify the cannabis measures for ballot placement.<\/p>\n \u201cBut we are NOT DONE! We still have a big hill to climb to ensure that we have a buffer of signatures so that we are 100% certain we\u2019re on the November ballot,\u201d Crista Eggers, campaign manager of NMM, said.<\/p>\n NMM has worked to put medical cannabis on the ballot for two prior election cycles, only to come short due to setbacks such as the loss of critical funding in the last election cycle and intervention by the state Supreme Court in the prior attempt.<\/p>\n \u201cWe know from our two previous petition drives that we can\u2019t just settle with the lowest possible number of signatures prior to turning in our petitions to the Nebraska Secretary of State,\u201d Eggers said. \u201cSo we\u2019re taking advantage of every opportunity to keep qualifying counties!\u201d<\/p>\n The includes signature gathering at polling locations on Tuesday to take advantage of primary election day. The campaign says it will be circulating petitions through 8pm local time\u2014and they\u2019re also soliciting donations to sustain the push.<\/p>\n The first of the two current ballot\u00a0initiatives<\/a>\u00a0from 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 is to \u201cenact 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.\u201d<\/p>\n The other initiative would create a new a Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission to provide \u201cnecessary registration and regulation of persons that possess, manufacture, distribute, deliver, and dispense cannabis for medical purposes.\u201d<\/p>\n While the campaign has faced setbacks in past election cycles, advocates got an early start on signature gathering this round. In addition to meeting the county-based threshold, activists must generally collect signatures from at least seven percent of registered voters statewide to qualify for the ballot.<\/p>\n Volunteers\u00a0have been filling out petitions since last July<\/a>, about two months after\u00a0turning in the pair of complementary legalization initiatives to the secretary of state\u2019s office<\/a>.<\/p>\n Gov. Jim Pillen (R) has already voiced opposition to the reform effort, saying in September that legalization \u201cposes demonstrated harms to our children,\u201d and that medical cannabis should only be accessible if its approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Eggers told Marijuana Moment at the time that the governor\u2019s argument is a \u201ccop out,\u201d and she says the campaign will let voters decide for themselves.<\/p>\n \u201cWe can\u2019t stop until we get that done. That\u2019s where we\u2019re at, and that\u2019s how our campaign feels,\u201d she said. \u201cWe just keep showing up. And the reason we have to do that is because there is no option.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2014 One of NMM\u2019s earlier campaigns gathered enough signatures for ballot placement in 2020, but the\u00a0measure was invalidated by the state Supreme Court<\/a>\u00a0following a single-subject challenge. Supporters then\u00a0came up short on signatures for revised petitions<\/a>\u00a0in 2022 due in large part to the loss of funding after one of their key donors died in a plane crash.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Wishart\u2019s\u00a0medical cannabis bill received a hearing<\/a> 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<\/a>\u00a0amid a filibuster that supporters could not overcome.<\/p>\n Cannabis Regulators Of Color Condemn New York Governor\u2019s Ouster Of Top Marijuana Official (Op-Ed)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Brian Shamblen<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Nebraska Medical Marijuana Ballot Campaign Meets Key Signature Requirement<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Nebraska activists say they\u2019ve met a key signature gathering requirement to place a pair of medical marijuana legalization initiatives on the state\u2019s November ballot. In an email blast to supporters on Tuesday, Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana (NMM) said they\u2019ve now collected valid petitions from at least five percent of registeredContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":75290,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75289"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75289"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75289\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":75291,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75289\/revisions\/75291"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: Nebraska Medical Marijuana Ballot Campaign Meets Key Signature Requirement<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"