If the South Dakota Supreme Court refuses to overturn a February ruling that nullified a voter-approved marijuana legalization initiative, activists will once again campaign to ensure that reform is implemented in 2022.
Late last week, they submitted four separate legalization measures to the state Legislative Research Council – the first step in bringing the issue to voters next year. South Dakotans for Better Marijuana Laws says sponsors will drop proposals if Amendment A, which was approved by voters last November, is fully restored by the state's Supreme Court. But for now, if the judiciary does not support the will of the voters, they are starting the process.
The four initiatives share some basic provisions, but each has its own approach to policy change. There is also a fifth measure the group supports that would override a one-topic rule for the electoral process – a policy that resulted in a state judge ruling the 2020 recreational measure unconstitutional.
"I'm proud to sponsor these initiatives because they represent the will of the electorate," said Melissa Mentele, who led a separate initiative to legalize medical cannabis that was overwhelmingly approved by voters last year, in one Press release. “South Dakotans support the legalization of cannabis. If Amendment A is repealed, we must be ready to put legalization on the ballot again. "
Tim Johnson, a former US attorney, is also a sponsor of the new action.
Activists acknowledge that the state's electoral laws mean they must race against the clock to approve any of the measures to circulate and raise enough to qualify. They will only proceed to put one of the cannabis-related initiatives on the ballot if Amendment A is rejected.
After going through the Legislative Research Council, the initiatives must then be approved by the Attorney General and the State Secretary. The lawyers then have until November 8th to collect at least 33,921 valid signatures for a constitutional proposal and 16,961 for a legal measure.
South Dakotans for Better Marijuana Laws supports two actions of each type. Here is what each of the four legalization proposals would do:
Constitutional Approach 1
- Possession of up to an ounce would be legal for adults 21 and older.
- Humans could grow up to three plants for personal use. For households with more than one adult there would be an upper limit of six plants.
- The legislature would be obliged to develop regulations for the approval of retail sales, cultivation, processing and testing.
- Public consumption would be prohibited and would be punished with a civil fine.
- Employers would not be prevented from restricting workers' marijuana use.
Constitutional Approach 2
- Possession of up to an ounce would be legal for adults 21 and older.
- Humans could grow up to three plants for personal use. For households with more than one adult there would be an upper limit of six plants.
- Retail sales would not be legalized by the measure, but it would not prevent lawmakers from deciding on commercialization later.
- Public consumption would be prohibited and would be punished with a civil fine.
- Employers would not be prevented from restricting workers' marijuana use.
Legal approach 1
- Possession of up to an ounce would be legal for adults 21 and older.
- Humans could grow up to three plants for personal use. For households with more than one adult there would be an upper limit of six plants. However, people could not grow their own plants if they lived in a jurisdiction that has marijuana dealers.
- The Treasury Department would be responsible for developing regulations and issuing cannabis business licenses.
- Regulators would have until July 1, 2023 to enact rules for the program.
- They would have to approve enough licenses to mitigate the influence of the illegal market, but not so many that the industry becomes oversaturated.
- A 15 percent excise tax would be levied on the sale of marijuana.
- Once the implementation costs have been covered, half of the remaining tax revenue will go to the state's public schools and the other half to the general fund.
- Municipalities may choose not to allow cannabis companies to operate in their jurisdiction.
- Public consumption would be prohibited and would be punished with a civil fine.
- Employers would not be prevented from restricting workers' marijuana use.
Legal approach 2
- Possession of up to an ounce would be legal for adults 21 and older.
- Humans could grow up to three plants for personal use. For households with more than one adult there would be an upper limit of six plants.
- While this measure would not legalize sales, oddly enough, it also includes a provision that says home growing is only allowed in jurisdictions where there are no marijuana dealers. However, the legislature could enact commercialization later.
- Public consumption would be prohibited and would be punished with a civil fine.
- Employers would not be prevented from restricting workers' marijuana use.
"If Amendment A is fully restored by the South Dakota Supreme Court, we would not continue these initiatives," said Matthew Schweich, associate director of the Marijuana Policy Project and campaign leader for South Dakotans for Better Marijuana Laws. “If Amendment A is deleted, we want to be able to return to the vote next year. We are submitting these initiatives now because the deadline for completing a signature collection is fast approaching. "
“We continue to hope that the South Dakota Supreme Court will make the right decision and restore Amendment A. However, we have to be prepared for every possible outcome, ”he said. “These four cannabis legalization initiatives represent different approaches that could take different judgments into account in the case of Amendment A. Only one would get to the vote. "
"Now is the time to get the ball rolling for 2022. Hopefully it isn't necessary."
While proponents remain frustrated with a February ruling invalidating the adult legalization initiative in 2020, they are at least encouraged that the separate medical cannabis measure was approved and the law went into effect last week.
Tech-wise, marijuana cardholders can now legally own up to three ounces of cannabis – but only if they have a valid registration card, and regulators have until November 18 to issue it. However, patients with an out-of-state medical marijuana card or one from a tribe to which they belong can now legally own cannabis without arrest under the guidance of the state Highway Patrol, which was issued last week.
The guidelines also state that even without a medical cannabis card, as long as they have less than three ounces, claim to have a debilitating medical condition, and can show documents about the condition to a doctor.
It is now legal for cardholders to grow up to six medicinal cannabis plants at home. But again, this policy change still depends on the issuance of cards.
Outside of South Dakota, advocates across the county are already working on a number of state-level cannabis initiatives for 2022.
For example, Missouri activists announced last month that they plan to propose a recreational marijuana legalization measure to voters next year.
Nebraska marijuana activists have announced plans for a "mass scale" campaign to put medical cannabis legalization on the state's 2022 ballot.
Last month, two measures were tabled in Wyoming to bring measures to legalize medical cannabis and decriminalize adult use in 2022.
Also last month, Idaho activists tabled a measure to legalize adult marijuana possession that they would like to submit to voters when they vote in 2022. That's in addition to a separate medical cannabis effort in the state.
North Dakota activists formulate plans for marijuana legalization after lawmakers failed to implement reform at that session.
Meanwhile, the Florida Supreme Court blocked two cannabis legalization initiatives for which activists had already collected thousands of signatures.
On the ground, a newly formed progressive group from Texas last month unveiled a campaign to launch an initiative to decriminalize marijuana possession and ban warrants from voting in Austin in November.
Ohio activists also recently qualified a decriminalization of cannabis measure to appear on a 2021 local vote – the first of dozen of reform proposals that could be tabled to voters this year amid the state-wide effort to collect signatures be continued. The group is also working to get marijuana initiatives on local ballots in South Carolina and West Virginia.
Read the text of the South Dakota marijuana legalization initiatives and one-topic proposal below:
South Dakota 2022 marijuana … from marijuana moment
Congressional lawmakers support the use of drones to detect illegal marijuana growth on public land
Photo courtesy Mike Latimer.
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