Nebraska still can't legally sell you weed. Support for it just hit a new high anyway.

The University of Nebraska–Lincoln's Rural Drug Addiction Research Center has been tracking Nebraskans' cannabis attitudes since 2024 through its Annual Social Indicators Survey. The 2026 wave found 47% support legalizing marijuana for both medical and recreational use, up from 44% two years earlier — and support for medical marijuana alone at 84%, up from roughly 80%.

Support isn't even across the state: 54% in metro areas versus 32% in the most rural counties, a gap that tracks with how Nebraska politics generally splits. But the more interesting number might be behavior, not opinion — 15% of respondents said they'd bought cannabis legally out of state in the past year, up from 11% in 2024, and researcher Patrick Habecker flagged how many people are crossing borders just to buy it.

Nebraska legalized low-THC medical cannabis via ballot initiative in 2024, but the state still has no functioning recreational market and its medical program remains narrow and contested. That makes this survey a snapshot of demand a licensed market isn't capturing — Nebraskans are already voting with their cars, driving to Colorado, Missouri, or wherever's closest.

For operators in neighboring legal states, this is free market research: Nebraska plates in your parking lot aren't a fluke, they're a trend line, and it's moving in one direction.