Nebraska activists filed an initiative that would legalize cannabis and create a constitutional right for adults over 21 to consume it. The initiative could be on the ballot in 2026 if organizers can collect enough valid voter signatures.
The one-sentence measure simply reads, “All persons twenty-one years of age or older have the right to use all plants in the genus Cannabis.”
Bill Hawkins from the Nebraska Hemp Company has filed a measure to implement medical marijuana initiatives approved by voters by 2024.
The Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission has implemented rules which have received criticism from advocates. Regulations, for instance, prohibit the use of edibles and other products with flavoring, along with medical marijuana flowers or products that are vaped or smoked.
Ballotpedia reported the filing of this new initiative, which would create a right for everyone to consume cannabis. This is the 5th proposal since 2018 to legally legalize recreational marijuana. Hawkins was also the sponsor of these prior initiatives, but none have been able to gather enough signatures for them to be placed on the ballot.
To be presented to voters in the next election, this initiative must collect 10 percent of signatures. Organizers will also need to obtain signatures from 5 percent of the registered voters in each of two-fifths of the state’s 93 counties.
The push for marijuana reform comes at the same time as state Attorney General is crackingdown on intoxicating hemp products, such as those containing Delta-8 THC.
Las year’s approval of two medical marijuana ballot measures came after an earlier attempt in 2020 gathered enough signatures for ballot placement, but saw the measure invalidated by the state Supreme Court following a single-subject challenge. Supporters then came up short on signatures for revised petitions in 2022 due in large part to the loss of funding after one of their key donors died in a plane crash.