S.D committee kills two bills attacking medical cannabis program!

Good news! The South Dakota Senate Health and Human Services Committee defeated medical cannabis repeal and potency cap bills.

In an unanimous vote, the committee deferred Rep. John Carley’s SB 181 to the non-existent 41st legislative day, thus killing it. That outrageous bill would have eliminated South Dakota’s medical cannabis program 90 days after federal rescheduling. 

Rescheduling does not make cannabis an FDA-approved drug, nor does it create any legal protections. SB 181 would have cynically deprived 18,000 patients of the freedom to use and access their medicine based on a fiction.

Next, in a 6-1 vote, the committee deferred Sen. Carley’s other outrageous bill, SB 194, which would have created THC potency caps, depriving patients of the products that work best for them. The bill included a 5% cap on oils, a five milligram cap per serving on edibles, and a 60% cap on concentrated liquids. 

While these bills have been defeated, another anti-patient bill — HB 1065 — was scheduled for a hearing tomorrow, February 12, in the House Committee on Health and Social Services. The hearing begins at 7:30 a.m. HB 1065 seeks to remove patients’ ability to raise a defense in court if they haven’t registered as a medical cannabis patient. Some patients are wary of getting on a government list for using a medicine that remains federally illegal, particularly given the federal government’s position that they cannot purchase a gun if they are a registered patient. 

While we are relieved by today’s votes, it is outrageous that patients are continuing to have to plead with lawmakers not to whittle away — or completely repeal — their legal protections. A landslide 70% of voters approved medical cannabis protections in 2020. Legislators need to honor the will of the people.