Proposals to combat “pop-up” weed clinics have been rejected by South Dakota lawmakers

An attempt to curb so-called “pop-up” medical cannabis clinics in South Dakota was defeated by state lawmakers on Wednesday.

The Forum News Service reports that the state Senate Committee on Health and Human Services voted against two bills that would “make numerous changes to cannabis law in the state: prohibiting certain advertisements for prescription services; To require certain measures by physicians and other providers to establish a “good faith” relationship and to allow prescriptions to be made only in designated facilities, most of which are in some way related to healthcare.”

South Dakota voters approved a ballot measure in 2020 that legalized medical cannabis treatment for eligible patients.

The new law officially went into effect in 2021, and the first state-licensed pharmacies opened to customers last year.

Since then, a number of “pop-up” clinics have opened, offering patients medicinal cannabis prescriptions in just minutes.

Proponents of the two measures, which were rejected by the state Senate committee on Wednesday, claim that these clinics “allow those seeking medicinal cannabis to earn their cards without the proper, professional testing required by law,” according to the Forum News Service.

Both bills failed “by a wide margin,” the Forum News Service reported, noting that opponents of the measures “said the increased oversight and possible penalties would mean that the rate of providers enrolling in the program for medical… Choosing marijuana would alleviate a pre-existing difficulty in the nascent program, which is creating a hole to be filled by ‘pop-up’ clinics.”

“The program is brand new, and we don’t want to reverse with the law by simply saying, ‘We have to stop this immediately,'” Winner state Senator Erin Tobin said, as quoted by the Forum News Service. “Because I know it’s a problem. We’ll get there.”

But the main proponent of the proposals said the pop-up clinics are “blurring” the line between medical and recreational cannabis.

A measure to legalize recreational cannabis was defeated by voters in South Dakota last year.

“Voters said yes to establishing a medical marijuana system, and they said no to establishing a recreational marijuana system,” said House Representative Fred Deutsch, who is supporting the bills.

The state of Mount Rushmore has had a complicated history with cannabis policy of late. Despite the rejection of last year’s recreational cannabis proposal, South Dakota voters had approved an amendment to end cannabis prohibition in 2020.

However, that change was immediately challenged legally, led by Republican state Gov. Kristi Noem, and was eventually struck down by the South Dakota Supreme Court in 2021.

“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 of the court ruling. “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 administration’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 shipped to eligible South Dakotans.”

The state Senate voted last month to expand the list of requirements for medical cannabis treatment.

Under the original law, patients with the following medical conditions are eligible for treatment: A chronic or debilitating disease or medical condition, or its treatment, that produces one or more of the following causes: cachexia or wasting syndrome; severe, debilitating pain; severe nausea; seizures; or severe and persistent muscle spasms.

The measure, passed last month, would add the following to the list: acquired immunodeficiency syndrome or human immunodeficiency virus positive status; Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis; Multiple sclerosis; cancer or its treatment if related to Crohn’s disease; epilepsy and seizures; Glaucoma; or post-traumatic stress disorder.