Three weeks after Nebraska voters overwhelmingly approved medical marijuana the state moved a step closer to allowing it Tuesday when a judge ruled that the petitions that put the question on the ballot were valid.
The decision by Lancaster County District Judge Susan Strong was a victory for advocates of medical marijuana, but opponents are likely to appeal it to the state Supreme Court.
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“To prevail in this action, the plaintiff and Secretary had to show that more than 3,463 signatures on the Legalization Petition and 3,357 signatures on the Regulatory Petition are invalid. The Plaintiff and Secretary are well short,” Strong wrote. Fewer than 1,000 signatures on each petition were shown to be invalid.
A spokesperson for the Nebraska attorney general said the office’s lawyers were reviewing the ruling and considering whether to file an appeal.
Medical marijuana supporters didn't immediately respond to calls or emails seeking comment Tuesday after the ruling was released.
More than two-thirds of Nebraska voters supported legalization at the polls Nov. 5. The results are scheduled to be certified Dec. 2.
Secretary of State Bob Evnen and Attorney General Mike Hilgers argued that problems with the way thousands of signatures were gathered meant the ballot initiatives shouldn’t have been put to voters. One person who circulated petitions in Grand Island was criminally charged with falsifying at least 164 signatures. Evnen, Hilgers and former state Sen. John Kuehn also raised questions about whether other signatures were properly notarized.
Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana argued in court that even if some of the signatures gathered were flawed, the group still had well over the 86,499 needed. The Secretary of State's office certified nearly 90,000 signatures on both the petition to allow marijuana for medical use and the one to set up a commission to regulate it.
The judge agreed that the state wasn't able to show any widespread fraud. Instead the ruling pointed primarily to the one petition circulator who was charged and raised questions about whether some other signatures were properly notarized.
Strong said she reviewed thousands of messages that top two organizers of the petition campaign exchanged that filled more than 800 pages and only found one mention of notarizing petitions outside of the petition circulator's presence.
This year marked the third time Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana tried to get the issue on the ballot and the first time it made it there.
In 2020, the group came close after meeting signature requirements. But opponents sued, arguing that advocates violated state rules requiring ballot measures to focus on a single question. Instead, the measure posed two separate questions: whether residents should have the right to use marijuana for medical purposes, and whether private companies should be allowed to grow and sell it.
The state Supreme Court prevented the questions from going to voters.
In 2022, organizers failed to collect enough signatures in time to get the question on the November ballot.
Voters in North Dakota, South Dakota and Florida all rejected measures to legalize recreational marijuana use this year. But dozens of states have previously legalized it for either medical or recreational use, most recently in Ohio last year. In May, the federal government also began a process to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug.