{"id":86676,"date":"2026-08-18T09:23:07","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T17:23:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2026\/08\/18\/south-dakota-sees-surge-in-patients-growing-medical-marijuana-at-home\/"},"modified":"2026-08-19T19:46:34","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T03:46:34","slug":"south-dakota-sees-surge-in-patients-growing-medical-marijuana-at-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2026\/08\/18\/south-dakota-sees-surge-in-patients-growing-medical-marijuana-at-home\/","title":{"rendered":"South Dakota Sees Surge In Patients Growing Medical Marijuana At Home"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n<p><em>The number of medical cannabis patients licensed for homegrow has increased by more than 1,000 percent over four years.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>By Makenzie Huber, South Dakota Searchlight<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A South Dakota Health Department official told lawmakers Monday that the number of medical marijuana patients in the state who are licensed to grow medical cannabis at home has grown by more than 1,000 percent over the past four years.<\/p>\n<p>Whitney Brunner, administrator of the state\u2019s medical cannabis program, told the legislative Medical Marijuana Oversight Committee during a meeting at the Capitol in Pierre that the number of home cultivators grew from 61 in fiscal year 2022 to 715 in fiscal year 2026\u2014an increase of 1,072 percent.<\/p>\n<p>Medical marijuana has been legal in South Dakota since 2021, but recreational marijuana use remains prohibited.<\/p>\n<p>Home cultivators may not grow more than two flowering cannabis plants and two non-flowering cannabis plants, according to state law.<\/p>\n<p>Patients can add a home cultivation license to their medical marijuana card for $20. Applicants must submit a photo of the grow room, a photo of the lock on the door and a diagram of the grow location. Brunner said those diagrams are often hand-drawn and lack detail.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe lack of regulation in this area is a bit concerning for us,\u201d Brunner told lawmakers.<\/p>\n<p \/>\n<section id=\"fl-layout-footer-container\" class=\"fl-layout-container\">\n<div id=\"fl-layout-footer\" class=\"fl-layout-inner\">\n<footer class=\"flourish-footer\">\n<div id=\"flourish-footer-text\" class=\"flourish-footer-text\">\n<p><em>Source:\u00a0South Dakota Department of Health; Made with Flourish\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/footer>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p>Brunner said she doesn\u2019t want to assume home cultivators are abusing the licenses, but said the department is considering tighter regulation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have looked into if there is anything more that can be done, but I think that\u2019s a greater conversation to be had,\u201d Brunner said. \u201cIt does present some legal and safety considerations if we were to attempt to regulate this further.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Brunner did not say if new regulation would require legislation. Committee member Sen. John Carley, R-Rapid City, told South Dakota Searchlight after the meeting that lawmakers hope to learn more.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe were glad the department had more information,\u201d Carley said. \u201cMany of us will be looking at that exact item and will come back to that concern next meeting.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The rise in home cultivation comes amid growth in the overall program. At the end of June, there were 19,375 medical marijuana cardholders in South Dakota\u2014a 30.5 percent increase from 14,843 last fiscal year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe did experience a true spike in early fiscal year 2026 but, by fall, that number had started to level off,\u201d Brunner said, adding that the number of cardholders in the state \u201cremained fairly stable\u201d most of the year.<\/p>\n<p>Most cardholders are in their 30s and 40s, according to department data, and more than 70 percent report severe debilitating pain as a reason for their cannabis use.<\/p>\n<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/southdakotasearchlight.com\/2026\/08\/17\/medical-marijuana-home-cultivation-licenses-surge-in-south-dakota\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">This story was first published by South Dakota Searchlight.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Photo courtesy of Chris Wallis \/\/ Side Pocket Images.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marijuanamoment.net\/south-dakota-sees-surge-in-patients-growing-medical-marijuana-at-home\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">South Dakota Sees Surge In Patients Growing Medical Marijuana At Home<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marijuanamoment.net\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&#013;<br \/>\n&#013;<br \/>\nRead More: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marijuanamoment.net\/south-dakota-sees-surge-in-patients-growing-medical-marijuana-at-home\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">South Dakota Sees Surge In Patients Growing Medical Marijuana At Home<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The number of medical cannabis patients licensed for homegrow has increased by more than 1,000 percent over four years. By Makenzie Huber, South Dakota Searchlight A South Dakota Health Department official told lawmakers Monday that the number of medical marijuana patients in the state who are licensed to grow medical<span class=\"more-link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2026\/08\/18\/south-dakota-sees-surge-in-patients-growing-medical-marijuana-at-home\/\">Continue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":457,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86676"}],"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\/457"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86676"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86676\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86677,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86676\/revisions\/86677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}