Paul Hammel
Nebraska Examiner
State Sen. Jen Day pledged Tuesday to introduce a bill in the 2023 legislative session to legalize medical marijuana.
The pledge by Day comes one day after a petition drive to allow Nebraska voters to decide whether to legalize marijuana as medicine fell short of qualifying for the November ballot.
The senator said the failure will leave many families without an effective way to treat chronic pain and epileptic seizures.
“We will exhaust every measure possible to get Nebraskans the medical freedom they deserve and want,” said Day, who represents a district in Gretna and suburban Sarpy County
.
The Secretary of State Office announced Monday that the two medical marijuana ballot initiatives had failed to collect the required 86,776 signatures and failed to meet a standard of at least 5% of registered voters in 38 of the state’s 93 counties.
Past efforts in the Nebraska Legislature to legalize medical marijuana have failed, which has convinced advocates to seek another route via the initiative petition process. Advocates have said they will launch another petition drive after validating the failure of this year’s effort.
The 2023 legislative session begins Jan. 4.
