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NE medical marijuana backer drops suit challenging signature requirement
A medical marijuana advocacy group in Nebraska dropped its lawsuit challenging the state’s multicounty signature-gathering requirement.
Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana sued Secretary of State Bob Evnen in May, arguing the petition requirement to include signatures from at least 5% of voters in 38 of the state’s 93 counties violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, the Omaha World-Herald reported.
Neither of the two MMJ legalization petitions circulated by Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana met the total number of signatures needed to qualify for the November ballot.
One petition one would protect doctors who recommend medical cannabis and patients; the other would protect MMJ suppliers and distributors.
Evnen said in August that he’d review the two petitions, despite having ruled that they did not qualify for the November ballot.
According to the World-Herald, state Sen. Anna Wishart of Lincoln and Sen. Jen Day of Omaha said they planned to introduce bills legalizing marijuana for medical use in the 2023 legislative session.
That session begins in January.