South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) last week signed three cannabis-related bills into law, KELO reports. This session Noem has signed a total of eight cannabis-related bills that were approved by lawmakers, who rejected eight others.
Last Thursday, Noem signed HB 1053 which bans women who are pregnant or breastfeeding from obtaining a medical cannabis certification; HB 1154 which creates new misdemeanor charges for medical cannabis practitioners who break a variety of new rules included in the bill; while SB 1 adds more qualifying conditions to the state’s medical cannabis program.
Under HB 1154, medical cannabis practitioners would be charged with a misdemeanor for directing patients to specific dispensaries or caregivers in exchange for payment; advertising in a dispensary; issuing medical cannabis certifications while having a financial stake in a cannabis business; offering discounts, deals, or other financial incentives for making an appointment with them; conducting medical assessments in a place licensed to sell alcohol; and charging patients different rates based on the duration of their certification.
SB 1 adds AIDS and HIV, ALS, multiple sclerosis, cancer or its treatment, if the treatment is associated with severe or chronic pain, nausea or severe vomiting, or cachexia or severe wasting syndrome, Crohn’s disease, epilepsy and seizures, and post-traumatic stress disorder to the state’s medical cannabis qualifying list. The measure also moved the responsibility of considering the addition or removal of medical conditions out of the purview of the Department of Health and placed it instead with the legislature.
Noem this session has also signed HB 1132 which adjusts the duties of the Medical Marijuana Oversight Committee (MMOC), allowing the committee to make recommendations regarding the medical and clinical aspects of the medical cannabis program; HB 1150 which requires a practitioner to certify whether they have previously issued a patient certification for the use of medical cannabis and eliminates a patient’s fee to the state if they are re-applying for a card for the second time within the span of a year; SB 27 which amends the definition of a medical cannabis practitioner, and states that hemp derived THC must come either from industrial hemp, or be in a product approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration; SB 134 which revises the makeup of the MMOC; and SB 198 which allows medical cannabis dispensaries to maintain certain cardholder data.
Noem also vetoed a measure that would have increased the allowable THC levels in unprocessed hemp from 0.3% to 5%.
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