A gaggle led by a Nebraska state lawmaker plans to once more attempt to put the query of legalizing medical marijuana earlier than state voters in November 2024.
It would be the third time Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana launch a petition effort after two earlier efforts failed.
In 2020, the group got here near inserting the problem on the final election poll after assembly signature necessities. But opponents led by Lancaster County Sheriff Terry Wagner sued, arguing that it violated state guidelines requiring poll measures to give attention to a single query. Instead, they argued, the measure posed two separate questions: whether or not residents ought to have the precise to make use of marijuana for medical functions, and whether or not non-public firms ought to be allowed to develop and promote it.
The state Supreme Court sided with the trouble’s opponents and prevented it from going to voters.
Last yr, with solely months to assemble the roughly 87,000 signatures wanted from registered voters, organizers failed to gather sufficient legitimate signatures in time to get the query on the November poll.
To stop a repeat of these failures, the most recent petition language consists of two petitions – one to arrange the doctor-patient system and one to control the business. Organizers additionally observe they’ve extra time this go-round to gather sufficient legitimate signatures.
The proposal would ask voters to legalize the possession, manufacture, distribution, supply and shelling out of marijuana for medical causes and would set up a fee to control a state medical hashish program.
Sen. Anna Wishart, who co-chairs the group, introduced Thursday on the legislative flooring that the group had filed paperwork with the state Secretary of State’s workplace to kick off the most recent petition effort.
“We had a chance this year to pass a narrowly crafted piece of legislation that would have safely allowed individuals with severe medical conditions to have access, and that bill couldn’t get out of committee,” stated Wishart, a Democrat within the formally nonpartisan Nebraska Legislature. “This issue is supported by Nebraskans. And now we have a year and a half to get enough signatures to put this on the ballot.”
In the final decade, dozens of states have legalized marijuana, both for medical or leisure use or each, and different states proceed to efforts at legalization, although it stays unlawful beneath federal legislation.
It will take about three weeks till the petitions may be printed, the group stated in a information launch Thursday. The deadline for signatures is July 5, 2024, and if validated by the Nebraska Secretary of State’s workplace, the query to legalize medical hashish will seem on the November 2024 basic election poll.
The group is planning a marketing campaign and signature-drive launch in early June.
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