Nebraska

Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts (R) went full Reefer Madness in his remarks on legalization during a press conference last week, saying “If you legalize marijuana, you’re gonna kill your kids.”

A Nebraska state senator has proposed a measure that would let voters decide whether or not to legalize cannabis via a constitutional amendment in 2022.

Nebraska State Sen. Anna Wishart says she is crafting adult-use legalization language that will be added to a medical cannabis legalization initiative planned for 2022.

Cannabis advocates in Nebraska are regrouping for 2022 after their medical cannabis initiative was struck down in September by the state Supreme Court.

The Lancaster County Sheriff who challenged and blocked Nebraska’s medical cannabis voter initiative said he doesn’t know who paid for the legal work to get the issue in front of the court.

Cannabis activists in Nebraska have submitted 15,000 signatures to establish the Legal Marijuana Now party in the state.

Sheriff Terry Wagner of Lancaster County filed a lawsuit on Friday challenging Nebraska’s medical cannabis voter initiative. Initiative organizers say they will fight and overcome the challenge.

Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana have submitted over 182,000 signatures in support of a statewide legalization ballot initiative; the campaign only needs 121,000 of those signatures to be validated to secure the initiative’s spot on the ballot.

Nebraska activists including state Sen. Anna Wishart (D) are pushing again this year to put a medical cannabis legalization question on the November ballot.

The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office in Nebraska says it has developed a test capable of differentiating hemp from cannabis plants; the field test was validated by the sheriff’s laboratory.

The de-facto cannabis reforms resulted from national hemp legalization have reached several Nebraska counties, where police are suspending cannabis enforcement until they can differentiate cannabis and hemp products.

Nebraska’s Doane University is launching an online program to train students for work in the cannabis industry, despite Nebraska’s lack of a legal cannabis industry.

Nebraska state senators have tabled medical cannabis legislation, effectively killing it, after hours of debate on the Senate floor and even after the bill’s sponsor agreed to suggested amendments limiting the program’s available products and delivery methods.