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South Dakota activists say they\u2019re falling behind on signature gathering for a ballot initiative to legalize marijuana in the state<\/a>\u2014and they\u2019re urging supporters to step up their efforts to secure the remaining signatures ahead of a looming turn-in deadline next month.<\/p>\n South Dakotans for Better Marijuana Laws (SDBML) held a press conference on Wednesday to give a status update on the campaign and convey the urgency of collecting the remaining signatures to give voters a chance to decide on reform after the legislature failed to enact it this year.<\/p>\n Matthew Schweich, campaign director of SDBML, said that the campaign\u2019s conservative estimate of how many valid signatures they\u2019ve currently processed is around 13,500. In order to qualify for the ballot, activists will need to submit 16,961 legitimate signatures from registered voters to the state by May 3.<\/p>\n South Dakota voters already approved legalization during the 2020 election, but the reform was\u00a0struck down by the state Supreme Court<\/a>\u00a0following a challenge from the governor\u2019s office.<\/p>\n Schweich said that the court ruling was an \u201cinjustice,\u201d but \u201cwe can\u2019t change that.\u201d However, he said that \u201cwhat we do have control over is getting on the ballot\u2014so let\u2019s go get on the ballot.\u201d<\/p>\n He said that this is not a \u201cred alert\u201d scenario for the campaign, but it is a \u201cyellow alert.\u201d And to that end, he laid out ways that activists plan to make up the signature deficit over the next three weeks to get into a comfortable place to qualify.<\/p>\n For one, the campaign has opened a petition hotline that people can call or text to learn about where they can go to add their signature. They\u2019re also encouraging people to volunteer to college signatures from others and are hiring paid petitioners, starting at $22 per hour.<\/p>\n There will be signature gathering events in major cities like Grand Rapids over the next couple weekends, including a drive-thru collection event so that people don\u2019t even need to leave their vehicle to add their names to the petition.<\/p>\n SDBML is also acutely aware that cannabis icon Snoop Dogg will be performing in Sioux Falls next week, Schweich said. The campaign will be leveraging that event to collect signatures, too.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve got 20 days left to finish this signature drive, and we need to work really hard,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Following the court ruling striking down the earlier voter-approved legalization measure, activists decided to take a two-track approach to the reform in 2022, both working with legislators for a legislative reform while separately collecting signatures for a ballot initiative if lawmakers failed to act.<\/p>\n While they would have preferred lawmakers to enact the policy change, that did not pan out this session. The House rejected a Senate-passed legalization bill<\/a> last month, effectively leaving it up to activists to get on the ballot again.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s what the campaign\u2019s marijuana legalization ballot initiative<\/a> would accomplish:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n The measure would allow adults 21 and older to purchase and possess up to an ounce of cannabis. They could also grow up to three plants for personal use.<\/p>\n It also lays out civil penalties for violating provisions related to issues such as public consumption or growing more plants than permitted.<\/p>\n Employers would specifically be allowed to continue enforcing workplace drug policy prohibiting cannabis use by workers.<\/p>\n State and local governments could continue to ban marijuana activities made legal under the initiative in buildings \u201cowned, leased, or occupied\u201d by a governmental body.<\/p>\n The measure does not touch on regulatory policies concerning taxing cannabis sales, licensing or equity.<\/p>\n SDBML\u2019s 2020 success at the ballot was overruled by the state Supreme Court as a result of a legal challenge funded by Gov. Kristi Noem\u2019s (R) administration. The court ruled that the measure violated a single-subject rule for ballot initiatives.<\/p>\n \u201cThe ruling, I think, was deeply, deeply flawed\u2014but we are where we are,\u201d Schweich said. \u201cAnd right now, we need more signatures. And we need everybody to step up across the state.\u201d<\/p>\n He also said that the campaign has been operating on a \u201cshoestring budget,\u201d in large part because of the money it spent trying to defend the previous voter-approved legalization initiative in court.<\/p>\n \u201cNow is the time to step up. And if enough people step up in the next 20 days, we will finish the signature drive with a nice healthy buffer that absolutely guarantees qualification,\u201d Schweich said. \u201cWhat I don\u2019t want is for us to just squeak by and that buffer to be so slim that our opponents [try] to take us to court again. I\u2019ve had enough court\u2014no more court.\u201d<\/p>\n A Marijuana Interim Study Committee, headed by legislative leaders, was established last year to explore cannabis policy reform, and the panel ultimately recommended that the legislature take up legalization this session<\/a>. The House-defeated legislation was one of the direct products of that recommendation.<\/p>\n \u2014 Even if the legislature had enacted the bill,\u00a0 however, the governor would have likely posed a threat. She declined to rule out vetoing the legalization legislation<\/a> on the day it passed the Senate in February. She also confusingly questioned voter support for the reform despite the fact that they approved it at the polls two years ago.<\/p>\n Noem\u2019s office also recently suggested that the activists behind that voter-approved initiative\u00a0should pay the administration\u2019s legal fees of the lawsuit<\/a>\u00a0that invalidated the will of voters\u2014a proposal that the campaign called \u201cridiculous.\u201d<\/p>\n While a recent poll found that most South Dakota voters approve of Noem\u2019s job performance overall,\u00a0just 39 percent approve of her handling of marijuana legalization<\/a>, with 51 percent disapproving. The governor is up for reelection this year.<\/p>\n Noem has consistently faced criticism from advocates and stakeholders over her early opposition to cannabis reform.<\/p>\n She released an ad ahead of last year\u2019s election\u00a0urging residents to vote against the legalization initiative<\/a>\u00a0that ultimately passed, 54-46 percent.<\/p>\n More recently, however, the governor seems to be trying to associate herself with the implementation of a separate medical cannabis legalization initiative that voters also overwhelmingly approved in 2020, despite having opposed the proposal in the run-up to the election.<\/p>\n After regulators approved rules for the medical marijuana program in September, Noem said her administration \u201cis fully on board to make certain South Dakota continues to implement the most responsible, patient-focused medical cannabis program in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n Noem tried to get the legislature to\u00a0approve a bill to delay implementation<\/a>\u00a0of the medical cannabis program for an additional year, but while it cleared the House, negotiators were unable to reach an agreement with the Senate in conference, delivering a defeat to the governor.<\/p>\n In response,\u00a0her office started exploring a compromise last year<\/a>, with one proposal that came out of her administration to decriminalize possession of up to one ounce of cannabis, limit the number of plants that patients could cultivate to three and prohibit people under 21 from qualifying for medical marijuana.<\/p>\n Pennsylvania Senate Approves Marijuana Banking Bill, Sending It To The House<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n The post South Dakota Marijuana Activists Issue \u2018Yellow Alert\u2019 For Signature Drive To Put Legalization On Ballot As Deadline Nears<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
South Dakota activists say they\u2019re falling behind on signature gathering for a ballot initiative to legalize marijuana in the state\u2014and they\u2019re urging supporters to step up their efforts to secure the remaining signatures ahead of a looming turn-in deadline next month. South Dakotans for Better Marijuana Laws (SDBML) held aContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":54163,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81,126],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54162"}],"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\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54162"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54162\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54164,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54162\/revisions\/54164"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: South Dakota Marijuana Activists Issue \u2018Yellow Alert\u2019 For Signature Drive To Put Legalization On Ballot As Deadline Nears<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"