2022 Petition Initiatives: Marijuana

By Gordon HopkinsNebraska is one of 24 states that allow citizens to initiate legislation through the petition process. In recent years, both casino gambling and expanded Medicare coverage have become law.Under current Nebraska law, possession of one ounce or less of cannabis (marijuana) is an infraction, possession of between an ounce and a pound is a misdemeanor and possession of more than a pound is a felony.Four petitions currently circulating for the 2022 election would change that.Three of the four initiatives focus on medical marijuana. One is the Medical Marijuana Constitutional Amendment, which is intended “to allow persons in the state of Nebraska to have the right to cannabis in all its forms for medicinal purposes.”Then there is the Medical Cannabis Patient Protection Initiative. The object of this initiative is to make the penalties for acquisition, possession and use of cannabis for medical purposes inapplicable under state and local law. The initiative specifies anyone in possession of cannabis must be “a qualified patient with a written recommendation from a health care practitioner.”The third is the Medical Cannabis Regulation Initiative, which would “enact a statute that makes penalties inapplicable under states law for the possession, manufacture, distribution, delivery and dispensing of cannabis for medical purposes by registered private entities and establishing a Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commissioner to regulate such entities. Currently, medical marijuana with a doctor's recommendation is legal in 36 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.SponsorsNebraska State Senators Anna Wishart (District 27) and Adam Morfeld (District 46) are co-sponsors of all three petitions.According to Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana, an organization led by Wishart and Morfeld since 2020, “We believe patients with serious health conditions should be able to use medical cannabis with the recommendation of a doctor. An overwhelming majority of Nebraskans agree.”Morfeld explained his support for medical marijuana in 2020 when he was advocating Legislative Bill (LB) 110, which would have legalized medical marijuana. “There’s a lot of different ailments, chronic diseases and chronic pain where marijuana has been shown to have a positive impact. Quite frankly doctors and Nebraskans should be able to have that choice.”That bill failed but Morfeld has continued the fight.Governor RickettsOne of the staunchest opponents of legalizing marijuana in Nebraska, medicinal or otherwise, is Governor Pete Ricketts, who said, “If you legalize marijuana, you're gonna kill your kids. That's what the data shows from around the country, and that's why it's dangerous to go around the established process.”Wishart responded to the Governor's claim by saying, “There are few things in this world that won’t kill you if you do or take too much. The cannabis plant is one of those. Facts matter.”Governor Ricketts published an editorial on his webpage on February 23, 2021.“Nebraskans have common sense and instinctively understand how this dangerous drug could harm our youth, our communities, and our economy. We don’t have to guess at the steep social costs of marijuana legalization—they have already played out tragically all over the country,” Ricketts wrote. “States that legalize marijuana outright or incrementally (that is, through “medical marijuana') have seen a human toll. This has included devastating effects on kids, tragic accidents, decreased participation in the workforce, and horrible mental health outcomes.”Nebraskans For Medical Marijuana disputes the Governor's assessment, “The facts are clear: The sky does not fall when patients have safe, legal access to medical cannabis. Thirty-six states have implemented these kinds of programs, and no state has ever repealed their medical cannabis law. Opponents of medical cannabis do not have the facts on their side, so they resort to scare tactics.”ProgressOn June 2 of this year, a press release from Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana indicated they had qualified over 15 counties and doubled their signature count, “In just two weeks, Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana (NMM) has brought in over 40,000 signatures, and qualified more than 15 counties. The campaign has recruited over 150 paid volunteer circulators who are traveling the state to help collect, and a team of over 600 volunteers have also ramped up their efforts. In addition to the overall signature requirement of 87,000 valid signatures on each of the two petitions, ballot initiatives must also qualify at least 38 of the 93 Nebraska counties. Currently the campaign has a combined total of 80,000 signatures across their two petitions.”“Over the last two weeks, Nebraskans have made it clear that they absolutely support this issue. They want to sign our petition to put medical cannabis on the ballot, and they have stepped up to help us do just that,” said Senator Wishart in response to the news.LawsuitNMM must collect approximately 87,000 signatures on each petition by July 7 to qualify for the November ballot. However, simply having enough signatures is not enough, according to Nebraska guidelines. It makes a difference where those signatures come from. There is a requirement that a petition has to have signatures from five percent of voters from at least 38 of Nebraska’s 93 counties.The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Nebraska and NMM filed a lawsuit against the state, claiming that the requirement was unconstitutional, as it gives voters in highly-populated counties less power than those in rural counties.A federal judge agreed and, on Monday, June 13, 2022, issued an order temporarily blocking enforcement of the requirement. A preliminary injunction will remain in effect pending a final decision on the constitutionality of the requirement.A Fourth PetitionThere is one more petition to legalize marijuana circulating. It is the Nebraska Cannabis Initiative. Unlike the other three, it does not pertain exclusively to medicinal marijuana. Instead, the petition states, “The object of the Nebraska Cannabis Initiative Petition is to amend the Constitution of the State of Nebraska by adding a new Article XIX which states that all persons have the right to use all plants in the genus Cannabis L.”The sponsor of this bill is Bill Hawkins, founder of the Nebraska Hemp Company and has been advocating for industrial hemp legalization since 2014.On May 30, 2019, Nebraska passed the Nebraska Hemp Farming Act (LB 657), which legalized the cultivation and commercial distribution of hemp-derived cannabidiol (CBD) products tested and approved by the Nebraska Department of Agriculture. CBD derived from hemp containing less than 0.3 percent THC (tetrahydrocannabinol, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana) was legalized at the federal level effective January 1, 2019, after President Donald Trump signed the Agriculture Improvement Act (also known as the Farm Bill) into law on December 20, 2018.However, Nebraska still does not allow the use of recreational or medical marijuana.Federal LawThe possession, purchase, and sale of marijuana is also illegal under federal law. However, that, too, could change. Earlier this year, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the MORE (Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement) Act, a bill that would end the federal prohibition on cannabis by removing it from the list of banned controlled substances.This bill has been passed by the House previously. It must still be passed by the Senate.

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