Nebraska AG targets drugs, human trafficking as priorities
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - With a neighboring state making history as one of the first to legalize marijuana, Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson is throwing his weight behind a bill proposing harsher penalties for possession of controlled substances.
In a news conference Thursday afternoon, Peterson said the bill would be a priority this session. While legalized pot has "brought out the best of Colorado's entrepreneurial spirit," its easy access has created a risk for Nebraska's young people, he said.
The measure, introduced by Sen. Matt Williams of Gothenburg, increases penalties for both synthetic marijuana, often marketed as K2, and edibles, such as brownies, butter and candy. Current laws treat possession of both edibles and K2 as equivalent to possessing less than an ounce of marijuana.
But Peterson said edibles, often marketed as novelties to young people, contain a highly concentrated amount of THC, the active ingredient in cannabis, and pointed to a Northwestern University and Harvard Medical study linking casual marijuana use to brain abnormalities. The bill increases possession to a class IV felony, which Peterson said would warn Nebraska parents and youth of the drug's harmfulness. Peterson believes the multimillion-dollar pot industry in Colorado downplays the drug's long-term effects.
"My prediction would be in five years, maybe less than that, we'll have some pretty good data as to why this social experiment in Colorado was so bad," Peterson said.
As the legislature gears up to tackle overcrowding in a prison system at more than 159 percent capacity, Peterson acknowledged that if the bill passes, the state could see more low-level arrests.
"We think there are manageable things to do in the Corrections Department, but what we can't compromise in that corrections challenge: you can't compromise public safety," he said.
Peterson's second priority bill, sponsored by Sen. Jim Scheer of Norfolk, would increase penalties for pandering and for men who solicit prostitutes.
In a national report card by Shared Hope International, an anti-trafficking nonprofit, Nebraska received a D rating for its effectiveness in fighting sex trafficking.
Peterson said weak penalties encourage traffickers to work in Nebraska rather than neighboring states such as Iowa with harsher penalties.
"I think in Nebraska we find it completely unacceptable that there would be any kind of message or any type of suggestion that in Nebraska it's more acceptable to do the practice of human trafficking," Peterson said.
The bill would also allow for property of convicted sex traffickers to be seized and would provide court-supervised support for minors who are trafficked.