Initiated Measure 26 lays out the parameters for starting and running a medical marijuana program. Constitutional Amendment A takes an omnibus approach, calling on the Legislature to make rules for medical marijuana and setting the standards for legalizing the use of recreational marijuana.
Organizers for the two ballot measures say that they complement each other, and that the passage of Amendment A would protect the initiated measure from meddling by the Legislature.
“There’s always one legislator who thinks they know better than voters do,” said Melissa Mentele, executive director of New Approach South Dakota, which is advocating for the medical marijuana measure.
Organizers are wary of the Legislature after its reworking of Initiated Measure 22, an anti-corruption measure approved by voters in 2016.
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