NMM is fighting hard again to get medical cannabis access on Nebraska’s 2022 ballot after missing out in 2020 due to a technicality.
Nebraska is among the minority of US states still without a formal medical marijuana program. That looked set to change back in 2020, when Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana (NMM) collected more than enough signatures to have a related constitutional amendment appear on the November ballot.
The success was short lived however, with the Nebraska Supreme Court subsequently handing down a ruling that it breached a requirement for proposed initiatives.
Continuing to be strongly supported by Senator Anna Wishart, the group bounced back quickly from the disappointment and pretty much immediately started preparing for the 2022 ballot. Thing were looking good for the new petition drive, but then tragedy struck. A major donor died in a plane accident, leaving the campaign well short of critical funds.
NMM started looking for another guardian angel to help raise the money to qualify for the November ballot, even having a word in Snoop Dogg’s ear. But with a big donor still not recruited to pony up the $1 million minimum needed to run a traditional petition drive, the group turned to what it says no signature campaign has done before – going entirely grassroots.
Nebraskans For Medical Marijuana is working to qualify two complementary initiatives for the ballot on November 8, 2022. The Patient Protection Act will protect patients with serious health conditions and their caregivers from arrest for the use of medical cannabis as recommended by a health care provider. The Medical Cannabis Regulation Act would establish the Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission to regulate private businesses providing medical cannabis to qualified patients.
Currently, more than 100 businesses across the state are hosting petitions.
“Remember the feeling we had on that hot summer July day in 2020 when we turned in over 200,000 Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana signatures?,” asked Senator Wishart in a Facebook post earlier this week. “We can have that again if we all commit to helping. Go to nebraskamarijuana.org to join the campaign and volunteer.”
