The South Dakota Police Commission approves officer applicants with cannabis regulations

Recently, two South Dakota police officers were convicted of cannabis use by the South Dakota Law Enforcement Officers Standards Commission. According to the South Dakota Searchlight, the commission made decisions on more than a dozen pending certifications and recertifications of “officials, canine units and reciprocity for officers from other states or Indian countries seeking state certification.” Many “officer candidates” attended a commission meeting on July 12 to put forward their arguments.

The first was Officer Kody Beckers, who pleaded guilty to possession of THC wax back in 2015 as a freshman. “I won’t make any excuses. There was an error. I was in college, my freshman year,” Beckers said. “Looking back on it now, it was a blessing for me. I turned my whole act inside out.”

He earned his bachelor’s degree from Minnesota State University and later earned a law enforcement officer certification from Alexandria Technical and Community College. “I wanted to find a way to find my purpose in helping people,” Beckers continued.

South Dakota law prohibits the commission from certifying civil service applicants who have pleaded guilty to a felony. However, exceptions can be granted “for those who have a suspended sentence in the state,” South Dakota Searchlight wrote.

After discussing whether the commission has the authority to certify Beckers, they agreed to do so. “I think that’s a fair consideration for this Board,” said Commissioner Tom Wollman. “We have pretty clear powers under our state law. It gives us that discretion.”

The second case involved current sheriff’s deputy Alicen Fladland, who is still allowed to be certified as a civil servant despite having a tribal medicinal cannabis card registered with the Flandreau Santee Sioux tribe to help ease the pain she was experiencing following her knee surgery in 2022 “I’m an honest and hardworking person and will do whatever I can to improve our community,” Fladland said.

He also spoke out for Fladland’s case, according to Hank Prim, law enforcement trainer for the Criminal Investigation Department. “She was honest about her application,” Prim said. “If she hadn’t been honest about her application, there’s a good chance the criminal justice commission wouldn’t have known about it.”

Many Native American tribes have begun legalizing medical and/or recreational cannabis on tribal lands and profiting from the sales. The Flandreau-Santee Sioux tribe was one of the first in the US to legalize medicinal cannabis after the Justice Department’s Cole Memorandum was issued in 2014, and was also the first dispensary to open in South Dakota.

However, last year the Flandreau Santee Sioux tribe told AP News that police had arrested more than 100 people who had medical cannabis cards and were buying cannabis at their dispensary. The tribe has issued around 8,000 medicinal cannabis cards to both tribe members and non-tribe members.

According to Flandreau Police Chief Zach Weber, these arrests are valid according to the South Dakota Department of Public Safety and the Attorney General’s Office. “If they have a tribal card and they’re not Native American, we confiscate the card and any marijuana products they had,” Weber said.

Recreational cannabis is currently illegal in South Dakota, and while many advocates have lobbied for legalization to be on the ballot, it has failed twice so far.

In June, South Dakota State Assemblyman Fred Deutsch said he wanted to get a health card just to test out the medical cannabis system, although he also said he had no plans to buy cannabis. Earlier, Deutsch urged other lawmakers to vote against a bill that would expand the list of eligibility requirements. “Doctors can make a hell of a lot of money opening their ‘Doc in a Box Shop,’ and that worries me,” Deutsch said. “It should affect everyone. I mean come on When we talk about medical marijuana, we should give access to people who really need it, and we should prevent people who don’t need it from getting access.”