South Dakota seeks changes in medical regulations

Finally, medical cannabis is legal in South Dakota, a state that became legal in 2020 before facing numerous hurdles to making medical marijuana official. And still the state’s pharmacies haven’t started distributing it. The next step to achieve this is a change in regulations, which is currently being worked on behind the scenes.

In South Dakota, medicinal cannabis is regulated by the South Dakota Department of Health. They recently held a public hearing to discuss the proposed changes and how things might progress in the state if approved. Despite the June 21 hearing, there is still time to submit written comments on the changes. Comments will be accepted until July 1st, either by email or by post.

Once the final comments are received, the department will make a decision. The changes must first be analyzed by the Legislature’s Rules Review Committee, which will make a decision on these proposed changes at its July 19 meeting.

Those changes are separate from those already approved, which take place on July 1, said John McCullough, code adviser to the Legislature. The other amendments referenced are those approved by Senate Bill 4 when it was passed during the last legislative session.

These changes, already approved, mark an important milestone for healthcare providers. Under this change, a physician no longer needs to state that the patient is likely to receive therapeutic or palliative benefits from medicinal cannabis if prescribed. Instead, they only need to state that the patient has a debilitating condition, not that they are likely to be successfully treated with cannabis. This takes a lot of the weight off doctors when it comes to new forms of treatment like legal weed.

Originally under Measure 26, adopted by voters in the 2020 election when cannabis was legalized. The South Dakota State Medical Association rejected this phrasing because it essentially forced prescribing doctors to say that cannabis would help, not just that it was an option.

Currently, debilitating conditions approved for treatment with medicinal cannabis in South Dakota include:

• Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and positive human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) status
• Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease
• Multiple sclerosis (MS)
• Cancer associated with severe or chronic pain, nausea or profuse vomiting, or cachexia or severe wasting
• Crohn’s disease
• epilepsy and seizures
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

To add other terms, there is currently an application process in place to see if more qualifying terms are approved in the future. These were all approved in September last year and through a final round of hearings in October 2021.

So far, there seems to be a great desire for medicinal cannabis in South Dakota based on how well a tribal dispensary is serving their community and the fact that the state has reached over 1,000 issued medical records. The flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe currently legally operates a dispensary on its property north of Sioux Falls. Their data shows that as of July 1 last year, more than 10,000 people have registered with the tribe for medical cards. The state Department of Health reported 1,121 patient cards as of June 13.

It remains to be seen what exact changes will be requested by the community during the comment period, but it is clear that after a long wait since legalization, the community is hungry and ready for legal cannabis in their state. In the meantime, the community will gather comments to try to build a better medical cannabis community in South Dakota.