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Nebraska Families for Medical Cannabis File NADC Complaint Against Lancaster County Sheriff Terry Wagner

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Monday, April 26, 2021

Nebraska Families for Medical Cannabis File NADC Complaint Against Lancaster County Sheriff Terry Wagner

According to the complaint, Sheriff Wagner knowingly filed his 2020 Statement of Financial Interests without disclosing who paid for his lawsuit that led to the removal of the medical marijuana initiative from the 2020 ballot, a felony under Nebraska election law.

LINCOLN, NE — Following the Nebraska Supreme Court’s removal of the medical marijuana initiative from the 2020 ballot, Nebraska Families for Medical Cannabis has filed a complaint with the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission against Lancaster County Sheriff Terry Wagner.

Last year Mr. Wagner initiated the lawsuit against the ballot measure that led to the Court’s ruling, and the new complaint alleges that he committed a felony by failing to disclose who paid for his legal fees during the 2020 calendar year. Nebraska law requires elected officials to disclose any gifts they receive in a calendar year that is more than one hundred dollars. Wagner has publicly said before he doesn’t know who paid for the lawsuit.

“Anytime an elected official accepts a gift that is more than one hundred dollars in value, they have to report it on a Statement of Financial Interests,” said John Cartier, an attorney and representative for Nebraska Families for Medical Cannabis. “If Mr. Wagner knowingly filed a false statement, he is guilty of a Class IV Felony. In this case, the payment of Mr. Wagner’s legal fees is a gift that must be disclosed under Nebraska election law.”

“Hundreds of thousands of Nebraskans are still upset about what happened last year. It’s not something we are going to ever forget,” said Trish Peterson, executive director of Nebraska Families For Medical Cannabis. “Mr. Wagner put his name on a lawsuit to thwart the will of the voters and those who want patients to not be treated criminals — and committed a crime in the process. We are not going to rest until justice has been served. No one is above the law, not even him.”

“We went above and beyond what we were asked to do — and did it all legally and transparently,” said Shelley Gillen, another representative for Nebraska Families for Medical Cannabis. “The families of children and loved ones who are continuing to needlessly suffer deserve to know who paid for this lawsuit. They deserve to know who gutted all of our hard work, and stripped away the voices of 196,000 Nebraskans.”

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Nebraska Families for Medical Cannabis is a nonprofit organization that advocates for the right of patients with serious health conditions to safely and legally access medical cannabis in Nebraska. Learn more at nebraskafamilies.org.

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