Nebraska Legislature reconvenes in Lincoln
Nebraska legislators have reconvened for the second year of the 2011-2012 legislative session. Last year, lawmakers failed once again to debate legislation that protects medical
marijuana patients from arrest. In fact, the last several sessions have seen Nebraska
legislators trying to increase marijuana penalties and
discriminate against marijuana users instead of introducing compassionate medical
marijuana legislation. Please email your state legislators
to ask them to make more of an effort during the 2012 session to provide medical
marijuana patients with the protection they need.
In 2009, the Nebraska
Unicameral Legislature passed L.B. 155, which added personal
possession of more than 16 ounces of marijuana, possession of any amount with
intent to sell, and cultivation of any amount to the definition of
racketeering, even though these offenses mostly have no relation to organized
crime. Prosecutors can charge an individual with this new racketeering felony
if he or she commits two or more listed offenses and invests any proceeds
from these activities in business or real estate.
In 2010, with
the help of your emails, L.B. 940 died in the Health and
Human Services Committee. L.B. 940 would have allowed the Nebraska Department
of Health and Human Services to test welfare recipients for marijuana
metabolites and deny benefits for a year to recipients who fail the test.
Did you know
Nebraska is a "decrim" state?
Nebraska is one of the 14 states that have
decriminalized personal use marijuana possession. First offense possession of
up to an ounce of marijuana is a civil infraction punishable under Nebraska law
by a $300 fine (and a possible drug education course) instead of jail time, and
is a citation as opposed to an arrest. Second offense possession of up to an
ounce carries a $400 fine and up to five days in jail, and third offense
possession is punishable by up to a week in jail and a fine of $500. Second and
third offense possession are misdemeanors, but are only citable, and not arrestable,
offenses. Even so, there were still 7,430 marijuana arrests and/or citations in
2007. You can learn more about Nebraska's marijuana penalties and enforcement
by reading
this report by Jon Gettman, PhD.
Nebraska legislators would do better to
focus their energies on further reducing marijuana penalties, as opposed to
creating new ways to penalize those who use or grow a plant that has never caused
an overdose death. You can write your state legislators to ask
them to end marijuana prohibition in the state and replace it with a taxed and
regulated system.
Stay Connected
To
stay updated on the status of marijuana policy reform in Nebraska, be sure to subscribe to
MPP’s free legislative alert service.
