Falling short of the required number of signatures, medical marijuana proposals in Nebraska won't appear on the upcoming November election ballot, officials said Monday.

The Medical Cannabis Patient Protections Initiative and the Medical Cannabis Regulation Initiative both failed to reach the 87,000 signatures needed to put the proposals to a vote. The Patient Protections initiative collected 77,843 valid signatures and the Cannabis Regulation initiative collected 77,119 signatures.

Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnen announced the news in a press release.

"Today, the Nebraska Secretary of State announced that our effort to relieve the pain of so many suffering Nebraskans did not meet the minimum qualifications of verified signatures to end up on the November ballot. To say we are devastated would be an understatement," Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana posted on Facebook.

The efforts would have legalized up to five ounces of marijuana for medical users.

Organizers had said in July that they expected to miss the signature requirement.

Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts, a Republican, has adamantly opposed the legalization of medical marijuana.

"If you legalize marijuana, you're gonna kill your kids. That's what the data shows from around the country," Ricketts said in March 2021.

Nebraska has twice failed to legalize medical marijuana.

Most states offer medical marijuana for patients. Those who qualify for medical marijuana suffer from chronic pain, AIDS, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease, cachexia, cancer, chronic traumatic encephalopathy, Crohn's disease, epilepsy or another seizure disorder, fibromyalgia, glaucoma, hepatitis C, Huntington's disease, inflammatory bowel and other diseases and ailments.