NE Medical Marijuana Initiative To Be Challenged by Opponents

LINCOLN – Nebraska voters may or may not get the chance to decide whether to legalize medical marijuana in November, after all. Although the secretary of state certified that the ballot initiative met the legal requirements for inclusion on the ballot, a court challenge has now been filed by opponents.
Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnen confirmed this week that activists collected enough valid petition signatures to qualify the measure for the November general-election ballot. Evnen, a Republican, rejected a request by marijuana opponents to block the measure, as he did this week with a proposal to allow casino gambling.
Evnen says while opponents raised several valid points about problems with the ballot measure’s language, he ultimately concluded that it met all the legal requirements necessary to go before voters.
Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana, the primary organizing group behind the signature gathering campaign, announced Friday night that a lawsuit to challenge the secretary of state’s decision has already been filed by those against the legalization of medical marijuana in Nebraska.
“We just got word that our opponents have filed a lawsuit to try and remove medical marijuana from the ballot,” the group stated in a Facebook post. NMM intends to fight the challenge in court, they say, to “ensure the constitutional rights of Nebraskans to vote on this issue are upheld.”
NMM did not name the opponent who filed the suit. This is a developing story – check back for more details.