Daily Drug War Digest -- September 15, 2026

The Nebraska Supreme Court shuts down the final challenge to the state's voter-approved medical marijuana law; thousands march to demand peace in cartel faction violence-plagued Sinaloa, Mexico, and more. 

Medical marijuana is now the unchallenged law of the land in the Cornhusker State. (Creative Commons)

Marijuana Policy

Sens. Cortez Masto and Markley Cosponsor Bipartisan Cannabis Banking Reform Bill. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) joined Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) in reintroducing legislation to ensure legal cannabis businesses can access traditional and secure banking systems and financial services. The Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act would provide a legal framework for banks and financial service providers to serve state-legal cannabis businesses, reducing the need for cash-only transactions and improving public safety.

The SAFE Banking Act would protect banks and their officers who provide financial services to legitimate, state-sanctioned cannabis businesses from criminal prosecution, liability, and asset forfeiture, while maintaining banks’ right to choose not to offer those services. It would also protect hemp and hemp-derived cannabidiol (CBD)- related businesses and require banks to comply with current Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) guidance. Additionally, this bill would prevent federal banking regulators from:

• Prohibiting, penalizing or discouraging a bank from providing financial services to a legitimate state-sanctioned and regulated cannabis business, or an associated business (such as a lawyer or landlord providing services to a legal cannabis business);
• Terminating or limiting a bank’s federal deposit insurance primarily because the bank is providing services to a state-sanctioned cannabis business or associated business;
• Recommending or incentivizing a bank to halt or downgrade providing any kind of banking services to these businesses; and
• Taking any action on a loan to an owner or operator of a cannabis-related business.

The SAFE Banking Act is also co-sponsored by Senators Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Steve Daines (R-MT), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Kevin Cramer (R-ND) and Patty Murray (D-WA). Congressman David Joyce (R-Ohio-14) leads the House companion bill.

This bill was first introduced in 2017 and has been refiled in each session since.

Medical Marijuana

Nebraska Supreme Court Upholds Voter‑Approved Medical Marijuana. For the second time this month, the state Supreme Court has upheld the state's voter-approved law allowing for the use of medical marijuana. In a decision last Friday, the high court dismissed a lawsuit by prohibitionist former Republican state senator John Kuehn, who argued that federal law preempted state-level legalization.

The court did not address that argument; instead, it ruled unanimously that he lacked legal standing to challenge the two initiatives that created the state's medical marijuana system in 2024 because he failed to show any personal harm or qualify for taxpayer or public-concern exceptions to the standing requirement. 

In a unanimous decision, Chief Justice Jeffrey Funke affirmed a lower court’s ruling that Kuehn failed to establish standing under either exception.

"We conclude that Kuehn did not have either taxpayer standing or standing for a matter of great public concern to challenge the constitutionality of the acts," Funke wrote. "We therefore affirm the district court’s order dismissing Kuehn’s operative complaint without prejudice."

A week earlier, the high court put the final nail in the coffin of another challenge to the law by Kuehn, who had filed a separate lawsuit alleging widespread fraud and malfeasance by circulators and notaries in the petition process. Kuehn had lost that case in district court and appealed, only to be slapped down by the high court. 

Nebraska's medical marijuana law passed with strong voter support: Initiative 437, which created a patient's right to use medical marijuana, passed with 71 percent of the vote, and Initiative 438, which created a state medical marijuana program, passed with 67 percent of the vote. 

Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana, the group behind the initiative campaign,  celebrated the Supreme Court’s ruling, saying that the lawsuit was "designed to erase the will of Nebraska voters and destroy medical cannabis."

"No matter how much money, influence, or political power they put behind the next attack, they will never erase what the people of Nebraska decided, and we will not stop fighting until it is respected," Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana wrote in the statement.

"This was never about protecting Nebraska law," Crista Eggers, the executive director of Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana, said after the September 4 ruling. "It was about whether a handful of elected officials could use the court to override the will of the people. Today, our state’s highest court stated the obvious: they cannot."

International

Thousands March in Culiacan to Demand Cartel Peace. Culiacan, Sinaloa, is both the capitol of Sinaloa and the home of the Sinaloa cartel. For the past two years, rival factions of the cartel have been engaged in a bloody internecine battle that has left thousands of dead there and shuttered thousands of businesses. This past weekend, the people of Sinaloa took to the streets to demand an end to the cartel war. 

Thousands of people dressed in white marched through the capitol calling for an end to the war between rival factions linked to the families of Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán and Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada. Fighting commenced after one of Guzman's sons tricked Zambada into getting on a plane that landed in the US, where he was taken into custody. Zambada's faction, "Los Mayistas," then went to war against the Guzman faction, "Los Chapitos." 

The Catholic Church, along with business leaders and relatives of missing persons, organized the demonstration. Protesters released dozens of white balloons before marching to the Culiacan cathedral, chanting "We want peace" as they went. 

"No territory and no ambition is worth more than a human life," said bishop of Culiacán, Jesús José Herrera, who called on the factions to reach a truce. 

Since the outbreak of the faction war two years ago, Sinaloa has become Mexico's deadliest state, with at least 3,000 killed, including numerous innocents caught in the crossfire. Frequent shootouts and roadblocks have closed schools and businesses. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has deployed thousands of troops into Sinaloa, but while drug and weapons seizures have increased, they have failed to quell the violence. On Saturday alone, at least seven more people were killed.