Marijuana

Vote Yes on Amendment A & 26

I’m encouraging everyone to vote for these two items on the ballot in November.

My endorsement probably doesn’t mean a hill of beans, because I think most people have their minds made up about legalization.

The South Dakota Chamber has been leading a Bullsh*t campaign from the beginning. Why? Because rumor has it that internal polling done by the Chamber shows Medical has broad support. I’m not sure what Rec is polling but my guess is if Medical is doing that well, Rec probably is also.

So why the fight on one and not the other? Besides the polling, even if 26 passes, it is just an initiative and the Legislature can overturn it. If Rec passes, the legislature cannot touch it because ‘A’ is a constitutional amendment.

But what probably scares the Chamber even more is that the Amendment dictates how much of the the tax revenue goes towards education. In other words, the legislature can’t raid the fund like they did when they increased sales taxes for teacher pay.

Whether you use or not, here are some important things to consider, and one of the main reasons I support both measures; It will save taxpayers millions each year in justice and legal costs and will generate millions in tax revenue, not just for education but for the general fund. Better Schools. Better Roads. Better Courts.

The ‘social cost’ of usage probably won’t change much under our current system of black market, instead as taxpayers we will finally reap the benefits of making it legal.

Don’t be fooled by a bunch of pencil pushers at the Chamber. Decriminalization is sweeping the country, it’s only inevitable nationwide, we might as well get a jump on it now.

I believe Recreational Marijuana will pass

I have been saying for quite awhile that I think recreational will pass in November, but maybe not medical. BUT, it is important for medical to pass also so children with severe cases of epilepsy can get treatment without the high of THC. Recreational can only be sold to those 21 and older.

I have joked with people, Recreational will pass similar to Trump becoming president, people support it and will vote for it, but they won’t tell anyone. I think polling will be way off on the topic. I also think opposition to recreational is going to have a hard time arguing against these benefits;

But 2020 is a long way away from 2010 when it comes to marijuana policy. As we’ve noted, dozens of states have reformed their laws and the world didn’t come to an end. Some have tapped into the revenue source of legal, taxed marijuana. The measure that voters here will consider includes a requirement that marijuana be taxed at 15%, half of which is earmarked for public education.

Besides the tax, you also have to take into account that we will no longer be paying for crimes associated with marijuana. This could be upwards of $100 million dollar windfall to the state with the savings and additional tax money involved. We can bitch all we want about the negative of Rec Mary Jane, but the tax revenue will be significant, especially since Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, Wyoming and Minnesota don’t have legal weed. Yes, they will be crossing the border to buy it.

When he ran the medical marijuana campaign a decade ago, Emmett Reistroffer recalls that he had scant resources. The campaign raised about $100,000 in cash, and Reistroffer had about $200,000 in in-kind contributions from supporters. It wasn’t enough to mount a serious statewide campaign, especially when the issue was drowned out by political spending in the U.S. House and governor’s races.

Today, the Sioux Falls native works as a consultant in the industry, based out of Las Vegas. Reistroffer said he hopes to play a role in this year’s election by raising funds for the legalization effort. If the campaign can raise $1 million by June, he thinks it might have a shot.

“This is not a slam dunk,” he said.

I helped Emmett with his efforts a decade ago. Promoting the campaign on the blog and assisting in graphic design. I knew in my heart it would fail, but we were all pretty surprised it only failed by a slim margin.

While I think SD has gotten more conservative in the neither lands outside of Sioux Falls, I think Sioux Falls is much more progressive and could carry this measure. I also believe that there is probably more Republicans that smoke pot than Democrats (well because there are more of them). I don’t think the public is naive on this topic. I think most agree that when it comes to mind altering drugs, marijuana is less dangerous than alcohol, not as harmful physically and natural. It doesn’t take a scientist to figure that out.

I once heard a comedian ask the question, “Please raise your hand if you think marijuana is more harmful than bacon?” No one raised their hands, and he quips, “What? No bacon defenders?” So if this passes, I might just start a new business selling marijuana infused bacon. We all need to live a little – right?

Recreational Marijuana Petition, What Happened?

The only POT that is legal in SD.

Only a few months ago, I was told that things with the REC petition were doing very good, even better than the medical petition.

Apparently that is NOT the case today.

Do I think I was lied to? Not at all. It seems what is evident today is that the circulators who promised to circulate didn’t follow through. Trust me it happens, I have seen it with local petition drives. That is why when I take a sheet, I don’t make any promises.

But what worries me more is that there seemed to be a bigger effort to get signatures for medical marijuana first (they did submit enough initially, but may not have enough to be certified). Let’s say that the medical petition is certified and does make the ballot, I still don’t give it much chance of passing.

Why is that?

As I have told the past two campaigns on this topic, people don’t want to fiddle around looking for a doctor to prescribe them medical marijuana, or hold a card, etc, etc. And recreational smokers don’t consider it fair either. People just want to go to the corner Jane store, pick up their weed and use it. Is it really anyone’s business if that is for pain, meditation and self-reflection or to simply just get high and check out for awhile?

Theirre efforts should have been full boar into getting rec on the ballot, it would have passed. Medical, I guess we will see.