Former Inmates Will Need Special Permission To Obtain Medical Marijuana Under South Dakota Bill

South Dakota Senate advanced a GOP-sponsored cannabis bill that would require parolees and probationers to get additional documents from doctors to become medical marijuana patients. The measure was approved Tuesday in a 29-4 vote and is now heading to a House committee.

The news comes after Governor Kristi Noem signed a bill into law that would allow employers in South Dakota to discipline workers in safety-sensitive roles, such as pilots, construction workers, healthcare professionals, teachers, nursing home employees and truck drivers among others, who test positive for THC.

Under the new bill, individuals on probation or parole will not face restrictions around obtaining a medical marijuana card. Senate Bill 191, sponsored by state Senator Jim Mehlhaff (R) would not prohibit people on supervised release from becoming registered medical marijuana patients but rather will require additional certification from health care practitioners to be provided to a court services officer or parole officer. 

Mehlhaff told the Senate that the state's Judicial System and Department of Corrections need "guardrails" against abuse of the medical marijuana program by people under their supervision, writes the South Dakota Searchlight.

"They just want to have some level of comfort that the folks who are receiving medical marijuana certifications, that there is a bona fide, debilitating condition and that they're receiving proper medical care," Mehlhaff said. 

The bill that advanced in the Senate was amended from its original version that imposed a ban on the use until medical marijuana is approved for use on the federal level by the FDA. That initial version died in the Senate Health and Human Services Committee earlier in February. 

That version of the bill failed in the Senate Health and Human Services Committee on Feb. 5. Nine days later, it was reconsidered in light of its amended language and passed 4-3.

"It's important to make sure that we're using this in the right patient population for the right reasons," Sen. Erin Tobin (R) said. "I think granting judges some discretion with whether or not parolees and probationers have medical marijuana allows for really individualized health care, compassionate care and consideration of public safety concerns at the same time."

See Also: GOP Gov. Noem Signs Bill Compelling South Dakota’s Medical Marijuana Patients To Acknowledge Federal Gun Ban

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