GOP Activist Is Trying To Repeal Medical Marijuana Program In This State

South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley (R) released Thursday a draft ballot explanation for a proposal that would repeal the state’s medical marijuana program. The measure is proposed by Republican activist Travis Ismay.

Jackley didn’t take any positions on the measure, but the Attorney General is required under the law to draft a title and explanations for each initiated measure, In this case, he offered a neutral explanation on the proposed constitutional amendment to help the voters.

The proposed measure would make all possession, use, cultivation, sale, and production of cannabis and cannabis products a crime. The proposal doesn’t impact hemp laws, and cannabis remains illegal at the federal level.

The Legislative Research Council (LRC), however, suggested that there are several issues with measure language, such as a typo on the proposed headline (having written “band” instead of “banned”).

The public has 10 days to comment on the filed draft explanation, which means that the deadline for written comments is August 6th.

The initiated measure would require 17,509 valid petition signatures to qualify for the 2024 general election ballot.

South Dakota was the first state in the country to simultaneously legalize medical and recreational marijuana during the 2020 elections. Some 20 months after, the state’s medical marijuana market officially launched, but in the meantime even though the state managed to garner some 54% support for recreational legalization, the measure was declared unconstitutional.

Last November, South Dakota also failed to pass a Senate 3 bill that would have legalized adult-use cannabis.

Seeing the support the state had for both medical and recreational cannabis legalization it’s difficult to imagine that Travis’ initiative will gather enough signatures.

Photo: Courtesy of Jeff W on Unsplash