{"id":40501,"date":"2020-01-08T06:00:41","date_gmt":"2020-01-08T14:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2020\/01\/08\/south-dakota-will-try-to-legalize-cannabis-in-a-red-state\/"},"modified":"2020-01-08T12:37:30","modified_gmt":"2020-01-08T20:37:30","slug":"south-dakota-will-try-to-legalize-cannabis-in-a-red-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2020\/01\/08\/south-dakota-will-try-to-legalize-cannabis-in-a-red-state\/","title":{"rendered":"South Dakota Will Try to Legalize Cannabis in a Red State"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

For all the support in the polls and all the victories at the ballot boxes cannabis enjoyed over the last decade, legalization does have its limits. For example, no state has skipped over medical cannabis and gone straight to allowing all adults 21 and over to possess and use marijuana, no doctor\u2019s note required. And, in spite of bipartisan support from voters, so far, none of the 11 states where cannabis is sold in regulated stores are in the deep-red, reliably conservative heartland America. (Michigan,\u00a0recall<\/a>, exited the \u201cblue wall\u201d in 2016 by only 0.2% of the vote.)<\/p>\n

All that could change this fall, and in what seems like a very unlikely place.\u00a0South Dakota has some of the harshest and most draconian drug laws in the country<\/a>. Possession is a misdemeanor; possession of any amount of concentrates, like a vape pen, is a felony; there\u2019s even a law on the books outlawing being in the same room as an amount of cannabis and a Congressional delegation\u00a0so opposed<\/a>\u00a0to any drug-policy reform they might be too extreme even for the DEA. Even\u00a0CBD<\/a>, a compound so common it barely attracts attention in most states, is illegal!<\/p>\n

Perhaps because of this, enough South Dakotans are sick enough of the status quo to qualify not one but two legalization measures for the November ballot \u2014 one that would create a medical cannabis program, and another that would legalize recreational use for adults 21 and over.<\/p>\n

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\u201cSouth Dakota will become the first state in American history to vote on both medical marijuana and adult-use legalization initiatives on the same ballot.\u201d -Matthew Schweich, MPP\u2019s deputy directorhttps:\/\/t.co\/CjwhXkQ2f6<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Marijuana Policy Project (@MarijuanaPolicy) January 6, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Marijuana Moment\u00a0was first to the news<\/a>\u00a0that the South Dakota Secretary of State on Monday ruled that enough of the 50,000 signatures from registered voters submitted by South Dakotans For Better Marijuana Laws, a statewide advocacy group aligned with the national Marijuana Policy Project and\u00a0New Approach PAC<\/a>, were valid. Just short of 34,000 signatures were required to qualify the measure for the ballot.<\/p>\n

If approved in November, what will be known\u00a0as Constitutional Measure A<\/a>\u00a0would allow adults 21 and over to possess up to an ounce of cannabis, legalize and tax regulated sales at 15%. It would also mandate that the state legislature legalize a hemp industry by 2022.<\/p>\n

If that\u2019s too much,\u00a0voters will also decide on Initiated Measure 26<\/a>, which would legalize medical cannabis for individuals with a \u201cdebilitating medical condition,\u201d provided they have certification from a physician. With specific qualifying maladies like wasting syndrome, severe pain, nausea, seizures, and multiple sclerosis, it\u2019s more limited than some medical-cannabis programs \u2014 though the state Department of Health could add conditions for which cannabis has been shown to provide relief, such as chronic pain, PTSD, or insomnia.<\/p>\n

This is the first time in U.S. history when voters will be presented with both medical and recreational legalization measures on the same ballot and the first time when drug-policy reform opponents will be able to muddle the same message at the same time. With reform stalled in Congress, thanks mostly to a recalcitrant Senate, state initiatives are also the most likely victory of any kind drug-policy reform will enjoy in 2020.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this point, it appears increasingly unlikely that Congress will pass legislation this year to fix our nation\u2019s broken federal marijuana laws,\u201d said Matthew Schweich, deputy director of the Marijuana Policy Project, in comments to Marijuana Moment. \u201cTherefore it is crucial that our movement win as many ballot initiative campaigns as possible this November and increase the pressure on Congress to take action. That is how we will ensure success at the federal level in 2021.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Due to the huge budget surplus, Colorado will be lowering state personal and business income tax rates. Another \u201cunintended consequence\u201d of marijuana legalization. North Dakota can do it too! https:\/\/t.co\/pVPHUU4VeT<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Legalize ND 2020 (@LegalizeND2020) January 5, 2020<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

At least for now, the odds are probably in opponents\u2019 favor. A medical cannabis initiative in 2010 lost by a nearly two-to-one margin, and later efforts to decriminalize failed to make the\u00a0ballot<\/a>.<\/p>\n

According to the Sioux Falls Argus Leader, South Dakota residents have until Feb. 5 to challenge the petition. A challenge can come from any citizen \u2014 including likely future foes in prominent positions such as Gov. Kristi Noem, a Republican\u00a0who has succored some of President Donald Trump\u2019s worst tendencies<\/a>\u00a0and is so anti-cannabis that she vetoed a bill that would have allowed South Dakota farmers to enter the industrial hemp market (something that Trump legalized).<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also possible that prominent anti-legalization groups \u2014 such as the cynical and mostly unscrupulous coalition of pharmaceutical companies, anti-drug advocacy groups, and anti-legalization zealots that helped defeat a legalization measure in Arizona in 2016 \u2014 will mount a challenge, or perhaps astroturf an erstwhile \u201cgrassroots\u201d anti-legalization campaign in the state. Because if South Dakota goes, it\u2019s likely Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, and other red states with medical marijuana programs will legalize next.<\/p>\n

TELL US<\/strong>, do you think South Dakota can get medical and adult-use cannabis legalization at the same time?<\/p>\n

The post South Dakota Will Try to Legalize Cannabis in a Red State<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n


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\nRead More: South Dakota Will Try to Legalize Cannabis in a Red State<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For all the support in the polls and all the victories at the ballot boxes cannabis enjoyed over the last decade, legalization does have its limits. For example, no state has skipped over medical cannabis and gone straight to allowing all adults 21 and over to possess and use marijuana,Continue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[50,13042,65,139,81,1577,13043],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40501"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40501"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40501\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40502,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40501\/revisions\/40502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}