SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — On Monday, January 24, the South Dakota House of Representatives advanced a piece of legislation which seeks to ban the home cultivation of medical marijuana.
HB 1004, introduced by Rep. Fred Deutsch (R-Florence) essentially seeks to remove all language allowing home cultivation of medical marijuana from the text of IM-26, now South Dakota law 34-20G, which was passed by the voters of the state in November 2020, legalizing medical marijuana.
Melissa Mentele is the Executive Director of New Approach South Dakota, a cannabis reform organization, and the author of IM-26. She takes issue with Deutsch and the legislature attempting to make changes to a law the voters have already approved.
“My concern is, we’re already out the gate with it,” she said. “There’s already patients out there that are card holders that have been approved for home cultivation. It’s going to be really hard to put that cow back in the barn. We’ve already started.”
Another issue that Mentele cites with the legislation is that it circumvents what she sees as the proper approach to address potential issues with the law.
“There was an interim committee put forth by IM-16 — the IM-26 Medical Marijuana Oversight Committee — that is supposed to meet to recommend rule changes to the legislature,” explained Mentele. “We have…
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SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — On Monday, January 24, the South Dakota House of Representatives advanced a piece of legislation which seeks to ban the home cultivation of medical marijuana.
HB 1004, introduced by Rep. Fred Deutsch (R-Florence) essentially seeks to remove all language allowing home cultivation of medical marijuana from the text of IM-26, now South Dakota law 34-20G, which was passed by the voters of the state in November 2020, legalizing medical marijuana.
Melissa Mentele is the Executive Director of New Approach South Dakota, a cannabis reform organization, and the author of IM-26. She takes issue with Deutsch and the legislature attempting to make changes to a law the voters have already approved.
“My concern is, we’re already out the gate with it,” she said. “There’s already patients out there that are card holders that have been approved for home cultivation. It’s going to be really hard to put that cow back in the barn. We’ve already started.”
Another issue that Mentele cites with the legislation is that it circumvents what she sees as the proper approach to address potential issues with the law.
“There was an interim committee put forth by IM-16 — the IM-26 Medical Marijuana Oversight Committee — that is supposed to meet to recommend rule changes to the legislature,” explained Mentele. “We have…
