The answer to the question “is weed legal in Nebraska” is no. Weed is not legal in Nebraska, under any circumstances. It has been illegal since 1927. Possession of anything less than one ounce is a misdemeanor with fines up to $300 and consequences that include drug-abuse education classes. The larger the amount carried, the greater the fines and penalties.
Marijuana prohibition came into effect in Nebraska during the early 1900s. By 1927, the plant was banned.
Almost 100 years later, the 2014 federal U.S. Farm Bill came into effect, allowing the farming of hemp with less than 0.3 percent THC. This paved the way for Nebraska’s LB 1001 that allowed for hemp products with CBD in them. When approved by the Nebraska Department of Agriculture, they can be commercially sold.
Any CBD that comes from marijuana plants will be illegal in Nebraska, unless it meets FDA protocols in specific formulas, such as prescriptions.
There are Nebraska citizens that have been working to get medical marijuana passed in the legislature. In 2020, a petition requiring only 121,000 signatures garnered 196,000 signatures making it eligible for the state ballot. However, the Lancaster County sheriff challenged the initiative and had it removed from the ballot.
The issue went to the Supreme Court which ruled for the removal of the ballot initiative.
The situation with the Lancaster County sheriff got messy and as of late 2021 this was still a legal battle for Sheriff Wagner in Nebraska. An advocacy group called Nebraska Families for Medical Cannabis said the lawsuit in the Supreme Court that ruled against the ballot initiative may have been illegal, and they have filed a complaint with the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission.
The complaint, led by lawyer John Cartier says that Sheriff Wagner committed a felony by not disclosing who paid for his legal fees in 2020. Any public official that receives a gift over $100 must declare the gift in the same calendar year. Some news reports indicate that he has said publicly he doesn’t know who paid for his legal fees.
Meanwhile, Nebraska residents are still pushing for this ballot initiative to pass.
Nebraska citizens will continue to try to get the initiative put on the ballot, a requirement as Nebraska needs a ballot measure for marijuana to be de-criminalized. Medical marijuana is an issue that keeps coming up, with the decriminalization of recreational marijuana on the backburner until that initiative is addressed. The group known as Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana are seeking a new petition for a ballot measure for 2022.