South Dakota Lawmakers Split On Home Medical-Marijuana Cultivation
South Dakota voters approved a MMJ program with 70 % of the vote in 2020
Lawmakers are headed for a showdown over the home cultivation of medical marijuana.
A House committee just passed a bill to ban it. A Senate committee is considering the number of cannabis plants a medical marijuana patient can grow.
South Dakota voters approved a medical marijuana program with 70 percent of the vote in 2020. The measure included home cultivation but requires a minimum of three plants. Backers of the ballot measure said it takes at least three plants to be a serious grower. But some legislators think the minimum should be a maximum, or there should be no home-growing at all.
Republican Rep. Fred Deutsch, of Florence, is the prime sponsor of the bill banning home cultivation.
“I don’t think the voters knew that was in the bill. I don’t think the voters read the bill,” Deutsch says. “I think the voters voted on a concept. The concept to provide South Dakotans legal marijuana when it’s needed. For example, for children with epilepsy. For people that are older, or with terminal illnesses — cancers. I think that’s really what people voted for. I don’t believe for a second that they read all the 95 sections and all the nuances.”
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