South Dakota Will Increase Cost Of Medical Marijuana Business Licenses By 70%
The change puts the annual price at $9,000
Lawmakers in South Dakota voted 4–1 on Tuesday to finalize a nearly 70 percent hike to the price of a medical marijuana business license.
Sen. Red Dawn Foster (D-Pine Ridge) was the lone member on the Legislature’s Rules Review Committee to oppose the increase. The price change was made possible by a bill passed this winter at the urging of the state Department of Health, which administers the state’s medical marijuana program.
The current fee is capped at $5,310, an inflation-adjusted figure to the original $5,000 annual fee set by lawmakers in 2021, the year after voters opted to endorse a medical pot program for the state.
The change puts the annual price at $9,000.
Emily Kerr, the program’s administrator, told the committee that the price change is meant to cover the program’s administrative costs. The health department has three new employees who oversee the program, doing things like processing marijuana card applications, inspecting dispensaries and grow operations, and investigating complaints.
“The program has grown and been utilized at a rate that was much faster than initially projected,” Kerr said.
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