Lancaster County District Court Judge Susan Strong dismissed a lawsuit Thursday alleging that the state’s medical cannabis program violates state and federal law.

The case was brought by former State Sen. John Kuehn, who claimed laws allowing any form of marijuana are unconstitutional because the substance remains illegal at the federal level. Kuehn argued his status as a Nebraska taxpayer gives him the right to sue the state over its “illegal expenditure of taxpayer money.”

Strong disagreed, saying that “the Court does not believe that the incidental burdens of implementing a law, like employee time and printing costs, is an ‘expenditure of public funds’ sufficient to confer taxpayer standing under Nebraska law.”

Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana Executive Director Crista Eggers celebrated the decision.

“We appreciate the Court’s thoughtful decision to dismiss John Khuen’s [sic] latest lawsuit,” she said in a statement. “This is yet another failed attempt to strip away the will of the people, and should send a clear message to the opposition that they have lost.”

This is not the first time Strong has dismissed a case from Kuehn regarding medical cannabis.

A separate case, filed ahead of last year’s election, alleged that petition circulators for the medical cannabis ballot initiatives committed enough fraud to call into question if it should have been placed on the November ballot. Strong dismissed that case after the first phase of trial, but it was appealed and added to the Nebraska Supreme Court’s docket.

The pending court case led some lawmakers to refuse to take action on medical marijuana during the recent legislative session. It has not yet been scheduled for oral arguments.

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