Just half an acre of industrial hemp was (legally) cultivated last year in Nebraska – that should increase exponentially in the not too distant future.

Late last week Governor Pete Ricketts signed a bill into law allowing farmers to grow industrial hemp as an alternative crop.

Championed by Senator Justin Wayne, LB 657 adopts the Nebraska Hemp Act, which will align state law with federal law regarding the cultivation, handling, marketing, and processing of the crop – and products made from it.

Nebraska lawmakers have kicked off a debate on a proposal to legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes as activists push a much broader ballot measure that would place the issue before voters next year.

Supporters argued Wednesday that the legislative bill is narrowly tailored, with restrictions on how much users can possess and a ban on marijuana smoking.

Senators who oppose the measure say the drug is still illegal at the federal level and argue that its benefits and dangers haven't been fully studied.

The sponsor, Sen. Anna Wishart, of Lincoln, says the bill is intended to address the concerns of many groups who raised concerns about it.

Marijuana reform is gaining momentum in the American Midwest as Nebraska and North Dakota have recently taken steps toward changing their outdated cannabis policies, writes Calvin Hughes.

Earlier this week, North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum (R) quietly made a small but important change to the Roughrider State's marijuana policies. On Wednesday, he signed a bill that will see small amounts of cannabis decriminalized in the state come August 1.

A Nebraska lawmaker is pushing for a change in the state’s drug laws that he says are outdated, according to a report in the Lincoln Journal Star. Sen. Justin Wayne of Omaha has introduced two bills that would adjust penalties for some drug possession and distribution offenses. At a meeting of the legislature’s Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, Wayne said current laws were putting people who were not involved in the distribution of drugs in prison for trafficking and creating overcrowding in state prisons and county jails.

Two Nebraska state senators will lead a newly formed campaign committee, Nebraskans for Sensible Marijuana Laws, for the purpose of running a 2020 ballot initiative to reform marijuana laws in Nebraska.

The committee, lead by Anna Wishart and Adam Morfeld, both of Lincoln, filed its initial paperwork with the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission on Thursday morning.

According to a release, the hope of the committee is to "prioritize the right for Nebraskans to use marijuana for medical purposes."

Word to the wise, or rather, to this woman arrested after advertising illicit weed business on Snapchat: don’t do this.

A woman arrested after advertising illicit weed business on Snapchat reminds us that very few things are private anymore.

In the age of social media, anybody can be, for lack of better terms, anything. A pseudo-celebrity, a faux-model, or even an unspecified ‘entrepreneur’.

Apparently, it has even facilitated the transition to becoming a bottom of the barrel weed dealer.

Scientific evidence confirming the medicinal properties of cannabis is getting harder and harder to ignore, and even conservative, Republican-dominated states are beginning to show support for medical marijuana.

This week, Republican legislators in Tennessee proposed a bill to legalize oil-based medical marijuana, and on the very same day a Nebraska state senator proposed a ballot measure to let the state vote on allowing medical cannabis.