Opening of the first state-licensed medical pharmacy in South Dakota

It’s been more than a year since South Dakota’s new medical cannabis law officially went into effect, but there are still no state-approved dispensaries serving patients.

That should change.

Next week, when Unity Rd. opens its doors in Hartford, South Dakota — a town of about 3,300 people near Sioux Falls, the state’s largest city — and will make history as Mount Rushmore state’s first state-licensed medicinal cannabis dispensary write.

“We’ve worked really hard to get this number one on the door to be the first legal, state-issued license,” BJ Olson, one of the co-owners of Unity Rd., told the Argus Leader newspaper. “That doesn’t happen if you don’t step on the gas right from the start.”

“We bought the land, we started building the building without a piece of paper and at worst we decided to build a beautiful building to rent to someone and at best we will become the first pharmacy in the state,” said Adam Jorgenson, the other co-owner.

According to the Argus leader, “Unity Rd. is franchised and also has stores in Oklahoma and Colorado.”

South Dakota voters overwhelmingly approved a ballot measure in 2020 that legalized medical cannabis treatment in the state.

The law officially went into effect on July 1, 2021, well before the state had started issuing licenses to potential pharmacies. But members of the Flandreau Santee Sioux tribe opened a pharmacy shortly after the official launch date last summer, sparking tensions between the tribe and the state.

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem and other state officials have said they will not honor medical cannabis cards issued to people who are not members of the tribe.

The Argus Leader reported that in February “the Flandreau Santee Sioux tribe [had] issued approximately 8,000 medical marijuana cards to tribal and non-tribal members,” and that “although several county and city-level law enforcement agencies and prosecutors have eased arrests and prosecutions for possession of small amounts of marijuana overall, others, such as the police of Flandreau, do not honor some medical records issued by tribesmen.”

The tribe said at the time that more than 100 people who had been issued tribal medicinal cannabis cards had been arrested since the dispensary opened last July.

uniform road. According to Argus Leader, “will offer a range of products including flower, vape cartridges, topicals, pre-rolls and edibles,” although initially “only flower will be sold, but the company expects to add products in a couple of weeks.” ”

The state’s medical cannabis law is struggling with slow implementation. By April, barely 400 patients had been enrolled in the program, while nationwide only 90 doctors were allowed to authorize the use of medicinal cannabis for their patients.

South Dakota voters also approved an amendment in 2020 that legalized recreational cannabis, but that law was eventually overturned by the state Supreme Court after it received a legal challenge from Republican Gov. Kristi Noem.

Noem, a possible GOP presidential nominee for 2022, celebrated the verdict.

“South Dakota is a place where the rule of law and our Constitution matter, and that’s what today’s decision is about,” Noem said at the time. “We do things right – and how we do things is just as important as what we do. We are still subject to the rule of law. This decision does not affect my government’s implementation of the medical cannabis program, which was approved by voters in 2020. This program launched earlier this month and the first cards have already been mailed to eligible South Dakotans.”

However, South Dakota will make another attempt to legalize recreational cannabis this fall, with a new measure qualifying for the November election.