LINCOLN - An initiative petition drive seeking to legalize medical cannabis in Nebraska has issued an urgent plea for donations and volunteers after reportedly losing a major contributor.

An email was sent to supporters of Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana on Wednesday, March 23 that said, due to "personal and tragic circumstances," a "committed donor" is no longer able to fun its petition drive this year.

The email called supporters to "show our grit" by volunteering to help circulate petitions, or to raise $500,000 to finance paid petition circulators by May 1.

Despite the setback, State Sen. Adam Morfeld said on Thursday that Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana is confident they can raise the funds needed to "fill the gap."

“Our campaign has an incredible amount of grassroots support,” Morfeld said. “We have hundreds of well-organized volunteers who are out gathering signatures, and more supporters sign up to help every day.”

According to Morfeld, it is "possible, but very difficult" to qualify an initiative for the ballot without using paid circulators. However, Morfeld went on to say "if any campaign can do it solely with a grassroots signature drive, it's ours."

Two years ago the initiative collected more than 122,000 signatures but was kicked off by the Nebraska Supreme Court. They ruled that the initiative's language violated the state's "single-subject" rule, which requires a ballot issue to contain no more than one subject.

In the email sent Wednesday, Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana said it has collected roughly 15,000 signatures so far in its attempt to qualify for the 2022 general election ballot. The group needs 87,000 signatures in the next 100 days.

In addition to the lack of funding, the petition faces major pushback from Gov. Pete Ricketts, who claims that legalizing medical marijuana is a gateway towards legalizing marijuana for recreational use.

Ricketts' position that cannabis has no medicinal value has been in stark contrast to the dozens of Nebraskans who have testified at the Capitol about its benefits in treating chronic pain and seizure disorders.

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