Regional Industry & News

SD lawmakers discuss how medical cannabis program can improve

PIERRE, S.D. (Dakota News Now) - The medical marijuana oversight committee met today at the state capitol.

They heard from the Department of Health on how the program is improving and what medical marijuana’s change in classification means for the state.

Over 19 thousand South Dakotans now have access to marijuana through their medical cards. The health department has since worked to make its website as informative as possible and is working on creating digital medical cards as well.

“The Department of Health has done a fabulous job and has done a fabulous job and has brought forth the information we asked for last session. Public safety and access are a big thing; the people want this to be regulated, but they want access,” Representative Josephine Garcia (R), Watertown, said.

However, one concern consistently brought up at the meeting was that some of the inspections and punishments for subsequent violations are too harsh and show no sympathy for human error.

“We definitely need to improve on that. I suggested today mock inspections so the actual people that are selling, the cultivators or the actual dispensaries, know what they are looking for before they actually come. It would reduce the anxiety and also make it safe and get what we require done without this ‘gotcha,’” Garcia said.

One Fort Pierre dispensary owner says fines should be reserved for egregious errors, especially when they have such a strong effect on businesses.

“We really had to shuffle our work schedule around to pay our small three thousand dollar fine. One was, we had to move our old dirtballs, and we had somebody hired to do that, but we had to stop them because we had to use our money to do that (pay the fine),” Robert Krogstad, owner of Bad River Cannabis, said.

The committee was also briefed on what Medical Marijuana’s move in classification from a Schedule 1 to a Schedule 3 drug means. However, guidance on tax policy and interstate commerce has not been established by the federal government, making it hard for lawmakers to draft legislation based on the changes.

Chairwoman Garcia told Dakota News Now that their next meeting is in October. And whenever that date is, they hope to have the attorney general testify to give his two cents on what the future of medical marijuana looks like.