UPDATE II: This comment is from the leader of New Approach;

We are not submitting tomorrow BUT we are making the ballot. Now we are just running the clock out.

So my assumption is that they have enough signatures now, but are just padding the signatures. BRAVO!

I’m getting some preliminary reports that the petitioners for Medical Marijuana have enough signatures for approval from the SOS and planning to submit the petitions tomorrow (this is from ONE source and am looking for someone to verify this).

Of course, there is still a long process of validating the signatures and perhaps some independent challengers. The last time it was on the ballot a group of healthcare giants from Rapid City and Sioux Falls put out huge full page ads opposing medical marijuana, they likely will oppose it again.

The petitioners are also working on a constitutional amendment for hemp production (which they feel they are close to securing those signatures). There is also a recreational petition, but I guess that one is NOT going as well.

I have often argued that I think a full recreational ballot measure who pass much more easily, but I guess the proof is in the pudding from seeing how the petition gatherers have been doing.

10 Thoughts on “UPDATE II: Medical Marijuana may make the ballot next year

  1. Always thinking on October 13, 2019 at 3:44 pm said:

    The proper strategy should be in this order: Hemp, then medical Mary Jane, and then recreational Mary Jane. Because with this strategy we could first make some money, then feel better, and then be able to afford to have some fun…. #KeepThisFromNoem

  2. The road to legal cannabis for all adults in South Dakota is paved with hemp but tribal nations trapped in the state should be the primary beneficiaries of industry growth in my home state. Pollinating hemp plants wreak havoc on therapeutic and “recreational” growers but Minnesota towns like Pipestone, Luverne, Worthington, Lake Benton, Ortonville and Hendricks near the South Dakota border could reap the coming cannabis whirlwind as Governor Tim Walz urges legalization.

  3. We are not submitting tomorrow BUT we are making the ballot. Now we are just running the clock out.

  4. Thank you for responding Melissa. BTW, don’t pull a Zokaites and miss the deadline!

  5. Porter Lansing on October 13, 2019 at 6:48 pm said:

    Neither recreational or medical marijuana belong in SD. It’s too big a change for the majority to inhale. What’s necessary is decriminalization. The current laws are draconian as well as unconstitutional. If you’re discovered with a small amount of pot, it would be a hundred dollar fine, which could be mailed in. Second offense … two hundred dollar fine. Nothing on your permanent record and no urine test. Only two states don’t have this. Idaho and South Dakota. It’s time to get on the right side of history.

  6. "Very Stable Genius" on October 13, 2019 at 7:27 pm said:

    In South Dakota, we prefer to decriminalize influence peddling. The first time, you will be charged and acquitted. The second time, they won’t bother to charge you out of fear that the state will lose the case.

  7. Matthew Paulson on October 13, 2019 at 8:05 pm said:

    I love that “pulling a zokaites” is now a phrase in local politics.

  8. D@ily Spin on October 13, 2019 at 9:17 pm said:

    I’ve encountered many petition people. Most that they approach sign. This could be a surprise. I’ve noticed studies that states with liberal marijuana have less problems with harder drugs. Isn’t pot less a health issue than tobacco? There should be industrial hemp (a no brained) but also recreational pot. Less crime, more agriculture, and more pacifist Republicans. Can’t go wrong.

  9. Reefer Blindness on October 14, 2019 at 6:40 am said:

    It is a recreational marijuana ballot measure sold as medical marijuana ballot measure. All kinds of loopholes.

  10. Jimmy Doxx on October 14, 2019 at 3:40 pm said:

    Kristi Gnome will single handily pass marijuana in this state because if there is one way to get South Dakotan’s to sign petitions and get them to the polls is to have our governor tell us we are too dumb to choose for ourselves. The current Republican stance claiming that prohibition enforced by the gov’t and sending thousands of people to prison is good for us is starting to rile the voters.

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