Nebraska has gone through a lot in the last two months. First, advocates submitted enough signatures to put medical marijuana on the 2020 ballot. Then immediately, the campaign runs into legal issues, eventually being denied by the supreme court. Now, medical marijuana advocates are back with a new initiative with the hopes of getting the measure on the 2022 ballot.
One-Sentence Constitutional Initiative
One-Sentence Constitutional InitiativeAs a result of being denied the opportunity, Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana immediately drafted a new plan and initiative for their medical marijuana campaign.
The previous initiative failed at the supreme court because it didn’t follow the single-subject rule. Now, Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana are focusing their attention to follow all the rules with simplicity.
“This is the one-sentence constitutional initiative language we will file today with the Secretary of State for the 2022 ballot. We have spent weeks consulting with Nebraska attorneys, legal scholars, and a former Nebraska Supreme Court judge to develop language that follows the precedent set by the Supreme Court,” according to Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana’s Facebook post.
As a result, the campaign is based on one sentence.
“Persons in the State of Nebraska shall have the right to cannabis in all its forms for medical purposes.”
“After carefully reviewing the opinion from the five Supreme Court judges who ruled to remove the 2020 initiative from the ballot, we decided to take the route of the successful effort of casino gaming supporters and file a simple, one-sentence constitutional right that will then be followed with trailing statutory initiatives to set up a safe, effective and secure medical cannabis system in Nebraska,” reads the post.
Their Strategy
This one-sentence may allow their initiative to land on the ballot, but it leaves many questions unanswered. For one, it doesn’t clearly establish a regulated market for medical cannabis. It also doesn’t establish who can participate in said market.
Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana have a plan. If Nebraska Legislature refuses to pass this initiative, they will file trailing statutory initiatives in 2021. Next, Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana will release an aggressive campaign to support this new petition. The organization also wants to educate the public about medical cannabis.
“Families with loved ones suffering from conditions like epilepsy, PTSD, Parkinson’s, and cancer have fought for years to make medical cannabis safely accessible in our state as it is in 33 other states,” reads the post. “Today we file the constitutional right.”
