Organizers are continuing push to put medical marijuana on ballot

Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana said it was nearing the halfway point in its campaign to qualify a pair of petitions that would legalize the use of cannabis for medical treatments for the November ballot.

Lincoln Sen. Anna Wishart, a co-sponsor of the petitions, said the group is on track to gather the 87,000 signatures needed before the July 7 deadline, despite several setbacks earlier this year.

"We are really pulling together a campaign," Wishart said, "and we've got a ton of people who have gotten out of the house to come grab a petition and collect signatures."

At the start of May, Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana had collected roughly 20,000 signatures for each of its two petitions. This week, the campaign reported 40,000 people had signed each petition.

The 80,000 total signatures surpasses the goal of 75,000 the campaign set at the start of May when it moved to an all-grassroots effort following the death of a major donor and a terminal diagnosis in another, Wishart said.

Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana said it has also achieved two other goals it set at the start of last month.

In addition to raising $50,000, which allowed Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana to hire 100 people to collect signatures, the campaign has received support from 5% of registered voters in 15 of the 38 counties required under state law.

That has happened in places like Garfield County in north central Nebraska, where Wishart said she got the necessary number of people to sign over the Memorial Day weekend.

"I qualified that county by myself, going to the grocery store, the bar, door-to-door," the state senator said.

Wishart said Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana is close to reaching its goal in two other counties, and will fan out across the state in time for the summer festival season.

Petition-gatherers will also be present at the upcoming College World Series before finalizing efforts over the July 4 weekend, Wishart said.

"We're seeing a path forward, we're all really excited about these numbers," she said. "We've met some very aggressive goals and surpassed them."

The pair of petitions, which were registered with the Nebraska Secretary of State last September, ask voters to support two initiatives.

The first petition would require the Legislature to enact laws that protect doctors who recommend cannabis for their patients, as well as for patients who possess or use cannabis as recommended by their doctor.

The second petition would require state senators to pass statutes protecting private entities that produce, supply or distribute cannabis for medical purposes in the state.