Nebraska: Market and legal data analysis of the cannabis sector

2nd September 2024: US - Nebraska: The office of secretary of state Bob Evnen has announced that the statutory measures to legalise medical cannabis have met signature requirements and will qualify for November’s election ballot once local officials complete the verification and certification process. One ballot measure – the Nebraska Medical Cannabis Patient Protection Act – would shield medical cannabis patients from penalties for possessing and using cannabis when they have a written recommendation from a healthcare practitioner, as well as shield prescribing doctors. The second – the Medical Cannabis Regulation Act – would establish the Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission and require it to promulgate regulations for the production and distribution of medical cannabis.
5th July 2024: US - Nebraska: Organisers of ballot initiatives to legalise medical cannabis in Nebraska announced they have turned in 114,000 signatures each for two ballot measures, with 87,000 validated signatures necessary to reach the November ballot. One ballot measure – the Nebraska Medical Cannabis Patient Protection Act – would shield medical cannabis patients from penalties for possessing and using cannabis when they have a written recommendation from a healthcare practitioner, as well as shield prescribing doctors. The second – the Medical Cannabis Regulation Act – would establish the Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission and require it to promulgate regulations for the production and distribution of medical cannabis. The Nebraska secretary of state must now validate the signatures to determine the initiatives have enough valid signatures to reach the ballot.
27th June 2024: US - Nebraska: State attorney general Mike Hilgers announced that two settlements have been reached in lawsuits against vendors of delta-8 THC products in the state. Hilgers sued ten delta-8 vendors last year, claiming that the products they were selling were misleading to consumers and not properly labelled. According to the settlement, one vendor is shutting down while another agrees to no longer sell THC products, and the parties agreed to turn over remaining THC products for destruction. However, the vendors will face no financial sanctions as long as they do not breach the settlement agreement.
8th January 2024: US - Nebraska: Legislators and state officials intend to take further action against delta-8 THC products in 2024, press reports. While lawmakers said that they do not intend to affect the legality of CBD products, they do want to make delta-8 products illegal in the state. A bill to do so is forthcoming. The ban has the full support of state attorney general Mike Hilgers, who in October 2023 filed a series of lawsuits against marketers of delta-8 products for allegedly deceptive marketing practices.
26th October 2023: US - Nebraska: State attorney general Mike Hilgers announced a coordinated series of lawsuits “against retailers selling mislabeled and deceptive THC-containing products that present a danger to Nebraskans”. Although the specifics of the exact products referred to in the lawsuits are not clear, Hilger’s press release references delta-8 THC, synthetic THC, and products that are “misleading [consumers] to believe the THC-containing products distributed across Nebraska are properly labeled and safe to consume”. CannIntelligence believes that delta-8 THC is not a controlled substance in Nebraska, though it is not clear if that is the basis for the lawsuits.
19th May 2023: US - Nebraska: Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana (NMM) has filed two petitions with the secretary of state’s office aimed at adding ballot initiatives to legalise medical cannabis for the November 2024 election, press reports. This marks NMM’s third attempt to pass a ballot initiative, with previous setbacks in 2020 and 2022 due to legal challenges and insufficient funding.
14th October 2022: US - Nebraska: Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana (NMM) is dropping a lawsuit filed in May that challenged a state law that requires ballot initiatives to collect signatures of 5% of voters in 38 of the state’s 93 counties to reach the ballot, press reports. NMM won its challenge in federal district court, but the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the lower court's ruling.
2nd September 2022: US - Nebraska: The federal Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against organisers of a ballot initiative to legalise medical cannabis in Nebraska by rejecting their challenge to the state requirement that signatures from at least 5% of registered voters in 38 counties must be collected to reach the ballot, press reports. After the organisers failed to meet signature requirements and thus failed to get the initiative on the ballot, they challenged the rule itself, claiming that it gave voters in rural areas more power than those in densely-populated areas. The federal court of appeals found that ballot initiative requirements are typically left for states to decide and will let the requirement stand.
23rd August 2022: US - Nebraska: Two ballot initiatives to legalise medical cannabis in Nebraska failed to gather enough signatures to reach the November ballot, press reports. Organisers reportedly submitted over 90,000 signatures but fell short of the required 86,776 after thousands of signatures could not be verified, a common occurrence with ballot petitions.
8th July 2022: US - Nebraska: Organisers of a ballot initiative to legalise medical cannabis in Nebraska have submitted what they hope are enough signatures to reach the November ballot, press reports. The state requires 87,000 signatures, and Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana (NMM) said that they submitted “well over 90,000”. The signatures must now be validated by the secretary of state, which could be a challenge since organisers typically submit far more signatures than required to account for many being deemed invalid. NMM also suffered a legal setback after a court ruled against its challenge of a requirement to have signatures from at least 5% of registered voters in at least 38 counties, press reports.
16th June 2022: US - Nebraska: A federal judge has issued a preliminary injunction against Nebraska authorities to prevent them from enforcing a rule that requires petitioners for a medical cannabis legalisation ballot measure to get signatures from at least 5% of voters in all 38 counties in the state. The ruling could help the petitioners meet necessary requirements for getting the medical cannabis measure on the 2022 ballot.
17th May 2022: US - Nebraska: Organisers for a ballot measure to legalise medical cannabis have filed a lawsuit claiming that the state’s signature-collecting procedure is unconstitutional, press reports. Specifically, the organisers object to a requirement that signatures must come from at least 5% of registered voters in two-fifths of counties, claiming that this requirement gives too much power to sparsely populated counties.

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