A campaign aiming to place a medical marijuana initiative on the November ballot in Nebraska has collected over 60% of the required signatures.
Crista Eggers, campaign manager for the nonprofit group Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana, says they’ve collected over 55,000 signatures on their initiative to legalize medical marijuana, as well as on their companion initiative that would protect physicians who recommend marijuana. This is 63% of the 87,000 signatures needed for the two proposals to be voted on this November.
Eggers says the group has also reached an important milestone by collecting the minimum required signatures across at least 38 of the state’s 93 counties for both of their initiatives.
The first initiative would enact a statute making 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 proposal would create the Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission to provide the necessary registration and regulation of persons who possess, manufacture, distribute, deliver, and dispense cannabis for medical purposes.
The second initiative would provide legal protections for doctors who recommend marijuana to their patients.
Polling released earlier this year — commissioned by the Neilan Strategy Group and conducted by Data Targeting Inc. — found that 70% of voters in the state support legalizing medical marijuana.
