Rep. Travis Ismay’s plea for co-sponsorship to shut down medical marijuana industry in SD
I had mentioned it in an earlier post, and hot off the press, a reader was kind enough to forward State Representative Travis Ismay‘s beg to his fellow legislators for co-sponsorship on his attack against the medical marijuana industry in South Dakota:
Sponsorship Request:
34-20G is part of the marijuana industries plan to exploit the state of South Dakota. This travesty was sold to our state in 2020 as something that would help people and bring in large amounts of revenue to the state. It has clearly been neither. The last two elections have been proof that the people of South Dakota do not want this in their state. I would encourage anyone to please read 34-20 G and see if you can find one thing in this law that is good for the people of South Dakota. This law protects drug dealers (34-20g-2to7). Gives special provisions in custody and visitation rights cases to cardholders (34-20g-21). Forces every municipality in the state to allow for a dispensary (34-20g-59), forces every school in the state to allow for a class 1 drug to be administered in school during school hours by whoever they bought the drug from. (34- 20g-95). The issuance of a medical marijuana card to children under the age of 18 (34-20g-33) and this is my favorite. You don’t need an identification card to defend your use of medical marijuana in court.(34- 20g-53) so basically it doesn’t matter how many restrictions you put on procuring a card, you don’t need one. These are just a few Sections in this law that are asinine.
Also, you have to understand how the marijuana industry sold this to the people to get this on the ballot. All of these sections were in four point font and folded up on one piece of paper so no one could read any of these sections before this was on the ballot. If anyone knew what this Law actually said, they would never have voted for this. The people of South Dakota had this crammed down their throat. Most people don’t know that we already had “medical marijuana” in a prescription form, approved by the FDA, Epidiolex (Cannabidiol), Syndros (dronabinol), Marino! (dronabinol) and Cesamet. I believe that if people knew this, they would not have voted to bring this industry into our state. Please consider supporting and sponsoring this bill if you have any questions, please email me or give me a call 605-490-6010. Thank you, and
God bless you.
The problem with his logic is that the South Dakota Legislature itself acted to place medical marijuana into law while the legal case on the ballot measure was winding through the courts, so the line about 4pt type is more than a bit deceptive. And insinuating that voters are ignorant or had it “crammed down their throat” just isn’t a winning strategy.
Was I in favor of it at the time? No. A fairly significant portion of the electorate disagreed and voted otherwise, and the legislature had decided to be proactive and adhere to the will of the voters. But 4 years down the line, as I noted during this last election, the industry has gotten through their growing pains and has matured. The state is regulating it and tweaking rules and regulations as needed. It begs the question “why?”
If we have something that is working and is adequately regulated, why does Rep. Ismay feel the need to throw everything out and contradict the will of the voters because it’s his axe to grind?
We’ll see how this goes. Stay tuned.
Jackley, who saw Noem run to the right in defeating him for the 2018 gubernatorial nomination, is determined to better position himself this time. He has assembled volunteer campaign staff for whether he runs for governor or attorney general in 2026, showcasing hardline stances against illegal immigration, abortion and gun control.
The congressman shared with top supporters an internal poll from Axis Research that showed him at 31% among 306 “known Republican primary voters” in South Dakota from Nov. 10-12, compared to 22% for Jackley, 10% for Rhoden and 7% for former state legislator and U.S. House candidate Taffy Howard. The poll showed 31% as undecided, with a margin of error of 5.6 percentage points.
The Union Center resident has assembled a “kitchen cabinet” to prepare for his new role. That group of close advisers includes Steve Westra, former commissioner of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development; Board of Regents president and former state legislator Tim Rave; and Sioux Falls lawyer and lobbyist Matt McCaulley.