Attorney General Explanation Released for Initiated Measure Relating to Pot

Attorney General Explanation Released for Initiated Measure Relating to Medical Marijuana

Marty JackleyPIERRE, S.D.- South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley announced today an Attorney General Explanation for an initiated measure has been filed with the Secretary of State. This statement will appear on petitions that will be circulated by the sponsor of the measure. If the sponsor obtains a sufficient number of signatures (13,871) on the petitions by November 8, 2015, as certified by the Secretary of State, the measure will be placed on the ballot for the November 2016 general election.

Under South Dakota law, the Attorney General is responsible for preparing explanations for proposed initiated measures, referred laws, and South Dakota Constitutional Amendments. Specifically, the explanation includes a title, an objective, clear and simple summary of the purpose and effect of the proposed measure and a description of the legal consequences. It is anticipated that additional Attorney General Explanations for initiated measures will be filed in the near future.

To view the Attorney General Explanation for the measure, as well as the final form of the measure submitted to this office, please click on the link below:

http://atg.sd.gov/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=u6cZgrZAsnw%3d&tabid=442 

27 thoughts on “Attorney General Explanation Released for Initiated Measure Relating to Pot”

  1. I am sure just about anyone could qualify for pot under that laundry list of symptoms and disorders. They might as well dispense it in vending machines using the honor system. What a joke.

  2. If it is legalized it should copy what Minnesota has done that will really minimize abuse. Too much opportunity for abuse the way this is written. Colorado has had a large amount of issues with it’s med cannabis being abused.

    1. the potheads dislike the way it’s set up in Minnesota because they can’t get high off the Med Cannabis there

    1. The Hill City Rattler should introduce legislation to tax the tar out of them. Resort to your roots, oh great fanged one.

  3. Why exactly are we trying to provide legal protections to potheads in this language? I will forever viciously discriminate against potheads at every opportunity. I don’t care what the law says. They choose to be useless. Why on earth would I want a deadbeat and liability working with or even interacting with me? If anything happens, whose fault do you think it’s going to end up being? Do you think the pothead is going to take responsibility? What legislators need to focus on in this coming session is legislation that protects us from all the stupid liability issues that the sea of potheads are going to visit upon us.

    1. Some recent polls show that a majority of Americans now support marijuana legalization and about three-quarters support medical marijuana. There seems to be more of a libertarian attitude out there today. The polls also show that about half of respondents have used pot.

      I guess what I am trying to say is that you are insulting a whole sea of folks, Spencer. And thats OK. As long as you are not trying to win elections.

      “Useless” “deadbeat” “potheads”? Wow. Are we a little grumpy today?

  4. In the explanation, was it a typo, or must a person have a minimum of 6 plants? I would think there would be a maximum. Also, can a landlord restrict people from smoking in the landlord’s property, i.e., an apartment? I would hope so. There are other way to take medial Mary Jane, I understand, so a landlord shouldn’t be required to allow smoking in their property as it will stink the place up.

    I understand that medicinal use of marijuana can be helpful to certain people, but I am always suspicious of those who try to pass these things because I am not a fan of allowing recreational use of pot; the last thing the country needs is a bunch of drugged-up hippies voting for Hillary or Weiland.

    1. Rental property owners will fight this along with tenants in non-smoking buildings that would have to deal with invasive unhealthy and stinky smoke entering their apartments. It is much more difficult to rent an apartment that has been smoked in and there are additional costs in cleaning up the residue in an apartment that was occupied by a smoker.

  5. Just want to clear a few things up. The list of qualifying conditions is written that way for a reason it does not allow “anyone” to receive a medical card. There is a very specific list of ailments in Section A and in Section B it lists symptoms not everyone will qualify under the guidelines. It is a bill written for MEDICAL patients. I find it unbelievable that so many are gasping with indignation at the conditions and at the regulations. You can walk into any Physicians office and request opiate pain meds, walk into a pharmacy and fill that med and then you can go home home pop a couple extra due to bad pain and DIE. The bill is written in the same theory except when you go home and use your cannabis prescription your not going to die. You are not going to get addicted. The addiction markers on cannabis are lower then coffee and more people die every year from eating peanuts then they have in the history of cannabis which is 0 deaths from consumption. This bill is about helping patients get their lives back. Every patient in South Dakota from the 2 year with Dravet syndrome that needs access to cannabis oil to treat seizures, to our Vets who need access and deserve access under new federal guidelines to treat their PTSD, to Grandmas with arthritic hands that need a lotion to ease their pain, to the cancer patient wasting away from chemo unable to eat they all deserve access to cannabis.

    The jobs that will be created from cannabis testing facilities, companies who make lotions, companies who make edibles and dispensaries are very needed in SD. Cannabis is a billion dollar industry and it is a in state industry due to interstate trafficking laws. Think about that every single dollar made and used to create cannabis jobs in SD will stay in SD. The fiscal impact and the positive financial changes in SD are needed.

    We will be bringing in Physicians, Educators and Patients from legal states to speak about the positive impact this will have on SD Residents. Physicians will be trained by other Physicians in cannabis treatment. We have science to back up the need this time around. It isnt about the hippies and the potheads we are bringing real sick patients, real science and medical case studies to the table this time around. That along with data, crime analysis and financial reports from the other 26 legal states give us good information to give to the voters in this great state.

    Have a heart all of you. The over 100 patients who need access in this state lives depend on it. This is a public health issue and this program will be over seen by the Department of Health in SD. There are regulations in it to protect everyone from the patients to removing the need for the black market in SD. That black market in SD is million dollar tax free criminal enterprise and that is where you are currently dooming some of SD’s most fragile and sickest residents. Quit worrying about the small percentage of people who will abuse it there is always that jacka$$ who will mess up and go to jail. Quit worrying about the people who will use the meds and get high, the giggles and some snacks never hurt anyone. But the biggest thing to quit worrying about is that people will have access to it legally….this is SD and people have been getting high here for years.

    Anymore questions or concerns please feel free to shoot me an email. [email protected]

    Have a blessed day!

    1. So rental property owners and tenants that own and live in strict non-smoking buildings will be forced to accommodate medical pot smokers in their buildings due to your anti-discrimination requirements in your ballot measure?

      Why didn’t you copy the medical cannabis law that Minnesota has that patients cannot smoke or get high off their prescription?

      Not addictive? I’d be curious what our addiction treatment institutions here in South Dakota have to say about that.

      Telling us to quit worrying about people getting high makes me wonder why you don’t just go for full legalization of recreational marijuana rather than the sell it to the voters as being strictly medicinal.

      1. the other concern with this “it’s just a plant and is good for you” attitude is what message this is sending to kids and what type of an increase in usage among minors who’s brains are still developing. what type of coping skills are we teaching these kids?

  6. Why would the bill trump anything on a lease that says it is a non-smoking rental? I think you are just looking for something to complain about. Non-smoking is non-smoking pretty easy to figure out.

    MN’s bill is already going back to be changed. Why would I waste taxpayer dollars and our legislatures time by writing a bill that disqualifies patients and brings the issue back to be fought over? I grew up always being told to do things right the first time or dont do them at all. This is the right thing. I spent months researching, I have talked with people from every legal state from the patients to the lawmakers and we fixed all the wrongs made elsewhere.

    If SD addiction centers are going by new scientific data they will tell you that 9% of cannabis users show some addiction take that percentage and compare it to coffee or even chocolate they are both significantly higher.

    My comment about stop worrying is ment to be just that there will always be people in SD who get high recreationally. I don’t care about them my focus is providing access to sick residents of South Dakota. If you want to worry about the small percentage of illegal users that will exist after a good medical bill is passed then good for you. The reality is though medical legalization has nothing to do with recreational users.

  7. Don’t be blaming the legislators, this isn’t happening on our watch. Also, a cancer doc had an interesting comment on this topic. We all know smoking kills, so why are we giving pot smoking a pass ?

  8. MN’s bill is already going back to be changed. Where? I follow Minnesota politics several times a week and have not seen where there is a major movement for their medical cannabis law will be changed.

    Unfortunately there is so much misinformation and exaggeration of the health benefits behind the push for legalization.

  9. Lee here are just a few questions we must ask. If a State legalizes Pot in any form do parents lose their argument of it not being an acceptable thing to do? ( CO now condones pot smoking so parents of Triple A type teenagers not only have peer pressure to control but their own State Gov. condoning the use of!). Who pays for law enforcement keeping tabs on counties where pot farming is legalized? Who pays for lab testing of particulates cooked from the plant into puree butter type form?
    Anon 5:37 you asked the gigantic question above. Knowing that impressionable teenagers are peer approval hard wired mentally should make any medically driven law extrapolated for those cancer patients dying soon. Period!!!

  10. Minnesota’s bill has been under review for changes since the day it passed. You may watch MN politics but I am from MN and am friends with Angela Brown. She is the MN mom whose charges were dropped for treating her brain injured son with cannabis. There is a Task Force set up over there that is already lobbying for changes. They will be coming.

    As far as exaggeration of its health benefits. Well lets have a little lesson and please feel free to fact check everything I am about to tell you.

    Coltyn Turner 1st US Pediatric Crohn’s patient to be put into clinical remission with cannabis. He was dying in Illinois and stuck in a wheelchair when his physician pulled his parents aside and told them to take him to CO or he would die. He is one year into remission and is climbing mountains and living a life his family only dreamed of for him

    Landon Riddle pediatric Luekemia patient whose mother fought and won the right to treat him with cannabis oil instead of chemo. He is in remission and is living a healthy life like a normal kid now.

    Charlotte Figi pediatric Dravet patient went from a wheelchair and unresponsive to walking talking and being a normally developing child.

    Dr Sue Sisley specializes in treatment of PTSD for our troops. She is currently looking for patients nationwide to study under her grant from the US Government in the amount of 2 Million dollars to help treat PTSD so the US will stop losing 22 soldiers a day to suicide. Also if you are not aware the US just passed a new federal law to allow vets nationwide to be prescribed cannabis in the VA Health System. That was a huge victory for the cannabis community.

    I could go on and on but the data is there and the studies are being done to help more patients and give people back their lives. Please research or come to an event and get information or call me and we will have lunch to discuss this.

    I do want to address the smoking and youth issues. First of all cannabis doesnt need to be smoked to be effective. You can juice the leaves which has 0 psychoactive effect, you can use an edible, you can use a lotion, there is also burn creams, you can take it in a pill form, you can vaporize it and you can use oils like Cannitol which is formulated to treat Crohns and IBS or Haleighs Hope which is used for seizure patients. Both products are made by Flowering Hope Foundation and Jason Cranford out of Colorado. He is a great man who is saving lives every single day with his cannabis oils.

    With our youth we teach them that cannabis is a medicine just like opiates, tylenol or cough syrup and they dont need to use or consume products containing cannabis unless a Physician prescribes it. It is my hope that parents and patients would be responsible consumers and keep it in a safe place. For the record I am a parent. I have 2 teenage girls one a senior and the other a sophomore and I also have a son in 6th grade. My children are all very well educated on cannabis as a medicine. They are aware that kids, teens and adults are in need of it but are also very aware that it is not something that is cool or fun to do for recreational purposes. I like to think my children are brilliant but the fact is they are knowledgeable because I took the time to explain it to them. I talked to them openly and have provided them with information and let them make their own beliefs on it. They respect the rights of a patient consuming it and understand it is not something to mess around with for fun.

    The issue of who pays for the testing well that is simple the person or company making it. Who pays for the security for grows…the person growing. SD will not see any large outdoor grows ever unless someone comes along and challenges the law to include them. As it stands cultivation is in a closed, locked indoor facility. Those who keep talking about MN please feel free to call Kyle Kingsley and ask him how MN Medical Solutions is handling their grow operation. I can assure you his answer will be very well. For those of you not aware but Kyle was actually Dr Kingsley until a few months ago. He is a well respected ER Physician who understands the value and benefits of cannabis so he opened one of the 2 dispensaries in MN.

    Please feel free to ask questions if you have more.

  11. Melissa I don’t doubt that there can be medicinal benefits that are sourced from cannabis but with the huge rush of momentum for the two different layers of legalization there will be skepticism. It’s difficult to research and find objective sources that don’t have an agenda.

    On one end you have activists like Ryan Gaddy and SDAP that gives the impression of stereotypical stoners throwing out miracle cures from “High Times” magazine. It’s like pulling stuff out of their rear end and hoping some will persuade people. He recently compared a marijuana plant as harmless to a person’s rose plant? It’s like a bunch of addicts trying to justify and legalize their addiction. They need it as a crutch to get thru daily life. What’s next? Give little Johnny his daily Flintstone vitamins and make sure he smokes his joint before sending him off to school?

    Then you have individuals and business interests pushing the agenda and studies from behind the scenes with almost snake oil like claims because there have already been fortunes made and more to make in this gold rush. It’s human nature.

    The other end of the spectrum has shown to provide real results of improving peoples lives and in situations as Charlie Hoffman described with someone dealing with terminal cancer or undergoing chemo but it depends on a person’s own chemistry to whether this new Cannabis derived medication can help or not. Most likely a common concern that I share is that read hard science is not keeping up with the claims. It will take years of studies to find out what works and what doesn’t.

  12. A fact from Colorado … More Republicans voted to legalize pot than Democrats or Unaffiliated and more Republicans STILL support the constitutional amendment (which requires a 75% popular vote to overturn) than any other organized voting block. It’s a truly across the board, bi-partisan issue.
    As an aside… I don’t think Sodak needs legal marijuana. If medical marijuana did get voted in by your chronically contrary party each town has a right to deny it in their area. I’d predict one dispensary in Sioux Falls, probably across from the police station. lol PS …. VISIT COLORADO – YOU KNOW, FOR THE SCENERY 🙂

  13. you guys are a riot,

    i’m tired of havin the guv tell me wat to do with my body. i shud be able to smoke my weed wenever i want becuz it feel good an i like it! its my body. if i need to go see a doc and lie that i have hedakes and my back hurts to get a script i will to keep those coppers off my tail. legal weed is comin boys wether you like it or not. get use to it!

    1. If the point of your post was to prove dopers are illiterate and stupid, you did a good job. If you were trying to bring people to your side, it is a big fail.

  14. what the hell right does anybody have to tell anyone else what they can or cannot do with their own body?
    All of you spouting the Reefer Madness melodrama have done little research to support your statements and they all reek highly of canned vocal reactions to librels’n’commies’n’hippies, which tells me you have no real desire to form a coherent fact-based opinion and would rather regurgitate the panderings of your favorite talking head on TV or on the talk-radio circuit.
    It basically comes down to someone telling someone else what they can’t do with their own body.
    Cops think drugs will ruin your lives, so if they catch you with it, they arrest you and ruin your lives.

    I dare you to not get angry when you start researching the number of corporate interests funneling money out of our economy into foreign banks from the profits they make off of state contracts with private incarceration facilities. Pot may make your kids a little goofy, if they even like it (and a lot of them simply DON’T), but there are judges who will happily accept ‘kickbacks’ in the form of ‘diversified investments’ in companies that are getting rich by locking your kids up.

  15. Ill take the hatred of DWC. . . I could care less. . The fact that you quoted our decrim ad video makes me smile. . Being you are annonymous, I know SDAP content is being observed 😉 THANK YOU!

  16. Let’s wait for about 10 to 20 years and see how things with FDA studies and the social experiments going on in Colorado and Washington before we legalize anything here in SD.

  17. I just wanted to share this ruling to those that have questioned if employers would not be able to enforce drug-free work places. Hopefully this will help ease peoples minds that were concerned there wont be protections for employers enforcing their policy. As we all know cannabis stays in your system longer then most substances so the ruling puts in place a rule that basically says that regardless of your card holder status having cannabis in your system regardless if the consumption was outside of work hours still can result in loss of employment.

    https://www.courts.state.co.us/userfiles/file/Court_Probation/Supreme_Court/Opinions/2013/13SC394.pdf

Comments are closed.