So, why is Brendan Johnson proposing to put pot smoking in the State Constitution?

Pat Powers

There was another ballot measure that the state Legislative Research Council just finished reviewing. And, I have to say that I don’t think anyone saw this one coming.  Former US Attorney Brendan Johnson submitted a measure to LRC to rejigger our state constitution to decriminalize pot use.

Yes. You read that correctly. Brendan Johnson submitted a measure for review trying to put pot smoking in the State Constitution.

2020 CA LegalizeMarijuana LRC by Pat Powers on Scribd

I would have to think he’s representing someone who wants to do this, because adding illegal drugs to the South Dakota State Constitution is a screwy idea to start, and not something you would expect from someone viewed as one of the Democrat party’s top future prospects.

But here it is.

76 thoughts on “So, why is Brendan Johnson proposing to put pot smoking in the State Constitution?”

  2. What a nitwit, ask any law enforcement officer in a state that has legalized weed, it’s an absolute train wreck.

    2. Untrue. Living in California, I can tell you it’s caused less harm than Smart Phones.

    4. As angry as you are, and not armed with facts, you could use a little rec weed to mellow out, hot head.

      1. Not all potheads mellow out. 60s thru 80s THC levels in weed were about 3%. Today in flower/plant form it can go up to 30% THC and 99% in concentrate dab wax form. The risk of Psychosis increases in some and existing mental illness could worsen or an underlying mental illness could emerge as written by former NYT Author Alex Berenson’s book “Tell Your Children: The Truth About Marijuana, Mental Illness and Violence”

  4. Tara, please go live someplace you can deal with the potheads on a daily basis, your opinion is worthless.

    1. I can guarantee we all deal with them every day and you have no idea you’re even talking to them. Newsflash.. pot is already here and we may as well bring it out from the shadows and fund treatment centers for actual drugs like meth and heroin which have caused real problems in our state.

    2. Anonymous, if you are going to leave comments like this why don’t you use your name. My guess would be that you are afraid that those who know you will be further convinced what an idiot you really are.

  5. I know a lot of pot smoking people that are highly successful people. Why are you so bothered by it anyway. So you want booze prohibited too?

      1. Coming from an Anonymous I would say, “Care to name names?” Is a bigoted viewpoint. What is your name? Prove to me that Alcohol is not a gateway drug, prove to me caffeine is not a gateway drug. Type A personalities exist. And I too know a lot of very successful people who smoke pot, and I know a lot of successful people who don’t. Give me a good reason why it should not be legalized… how many states now rec pot is legal? Medical pot has proven itself already and continues to prove itself everyday in the treatment of medical issues, physical ones, not just mental. Research more folks………………

        1. The Illinois legislature which is a corrupt mess running in the red which will go further in the red just fell for the scam and voted to legalize. That makes them the 11th state out of 50. 9 states have turned back legalization now with the latest data, issues and people speaking up that actually voted for it but feel duped.

          It is becoming very difficult for those pushing legalization to gain traction now nationwide while dragging a ball and chain with all the false claims and lies that that resulted in states that fell for it.

    2. Tara; you don’t know anyone who is highly successful but great comeback. Ask any cop who has arrested a person for possession of a controlled substance, every single one started with pot. Ask anyone in law enforcement what percentage of pot in Colorado is brought in by the drug cartels and sold illegally, you are an idiot and it shows.

      1. Nope, every one of them started with alcohol, which is significantly more harmful than marijuana.

      2. Wow to tell someone they do not know anyone successful is really overstepping your boundaries. Ask any cop if alcohol was a guiding factor and they will tell you yes also. So perhaps you should not be just bigoted and educate yourself. Pot in Colorado is grown there, and the illegal drug cartels are being pushed out….. Wow… research yourself please… Oregon is not dealing with drug cartels trying to push the legal growers out…cmon now use your brain not your emotions when dealing with this. I know people who work in Oregon, clipping leaves. Thanks, but I will choose education over this rhetoric…Thanks.

        1. Oregon just hired 12 new counter drug agents just for the illegal pot trade…nice try at painting a rosy picture…

          NO to DOPE!

      4. Start with college campuses and Ivy league schools. Then research Fortune 500 executives. Olympic and professional Athletes. U.S. Presidents…would you like more. Maybe research hundreds of Law enforcement agents Judges, Lawyers etc that believe marijuana should be legalized.

  6. He is entitled to his opinion, however misguided it is…but LEAVE our Constitution alone!!

    This will come back to haunt him if he has any future aspirations in South Dakota.

  8. If legal marijuana is such a bad idea, can someone tell me why not one of the states that has legalized it (either medically or recreationally) has re-criminalized it? Not a single one.

    1. They tried to repeal legalization in Pueblo County Colorado which includes the city of Pueblo but were heavily outspent by the MJ industry which includes the Drug Policy Alliance. Drug Policy Alliance funded by George Soros and other billionaires has an end goal of legalizing all drugs in the US.

      1. So it’s legal in over half the states, and your example of an attempt to re-criminalize is a failed attempt by the *city* of Pueblo? lolololol

  12. Amazing how many uninformed people there are regarding weed. And yet many of them gulp down booze, which is far more destructive.

  13. I think the fact that is getting lost here is not whether weed I good or bad, but that Brendan Johnson wants to change our Constitution to allow it. Where does anyone get off thinking THAT is a good idea?!

  14. Maybe his experience as a federal prosecutor has shown him that the issues caused by the criminilization of weed are more of a problem than simply decriminalizing it, Pat. I bet you thought of that, though, and just couldnt resist a chance to grandstand.

  15. Decriminalization is the road to full legalization of recreational marijuana and then will magic mushrooms, other psychedelics and then the legalization of all drugs. The latest study out of Colorado is that for every $1.00 in pot revenue it costs that state $4.50 in support services.

    Check out these documentaries “Chronic State” produced and located at the Drug Free Idaho website

    “Seattle is Dying” produced by their local TV station KOMO

    No way can South Dakota afford to go this route fiscally, workforce development and social services. Public health and safety would suffer.

    1. The war on Drugs Is a joke now, and you buying into with the attitude that pot is the problem makes you in a minority. Put the war on Fentanyl, Meth and Herion, opoids that are killing people. Where did you get the idea that pot for med is bad…”.Public health wPain Clinics Test Patients for Marijuana Use – canorml.org
      http://www.canorml.org/prop/PainClinicsOShaugh.htm

      Chronic pain patients have good reason to object to being denied medical access to cannabis. Chronic pain is the leading indication for medical cannabis use, accounting for 90% of the patients in Oregon’s medical marijuana program.ill prosper…. ”
      so right back at you…for every person or study that says pot is bad there Is one that says the effects and benefits of pot medically is enormous. Stay anonymous as you want to hid who you are so you can say whatever… please, become real. A real human who’s concerns are voiced with diginity and respect, then you can reveal yourself.

    2. The slippery slope argument is a fallacy and also tired. This is high school level logic.

      1. except Colorado is proving the slippery slope true

        Wait till all the costs come from lung cancer to all the extra marijuana smoking…then states will realize the actual costs (not just the societal costs) of legalizing DOPE

        1. “Wait till…”

          I keep hearing that, but nothing ever comes of it.

          The fact is, legalization of marijuana is good public policy. The states that have had the courage to do this have found out first hand. None of them are going back, ever. That tells you all you need to know.

  16. Y’know, booze used to be “illegal drugs” as well. Would y’all be rallying against repealing prohibition? People, midwesterners specifically, need to look past the dubious (no pun intended) illegality and Reefer Madness of the past. Most of the country already has.

    1. Do you know except for the big cities prohibition actually cut the crime standards as people if they drank they did so quietly…not all this in your face BS like the marijuana crowd

      1. Less small time crime like vandalism or disturbing the peace…..but murder rates and organized crime skyrocketed. Anyone who claims crime dropped because of prohibition should not even be taken seriously.

        1. Visited with law enforcement and small crime does go up, disturbing the peace smoking weed in public places, apartment buildings where they grow also with all the stench and has been a problem in Condos too. Potheads become emboldened and think the laws don’t apply to them. Then claim it is their civil right to do those things which is against their lease, condo association or city ordinance which is bogus. They spend their money to get high being addicts, run out of money and then turn to crime being theft. All comes with legalization. More poor choices.

  17. Colorado is a much nicer place that poor old stinky South Dakota. Why don’t potheads just move there?

  18. It is always entertaining to watch the potheads go nuts and claim and say anything so they can justify the use and legalize their drug and other illegal drugs. Denials, deflection, whataboutisms thrown out. It just reeks of skunk smelling addiction and then they say it is not addictive. Yep sure! Hahaha!

    1. I dont smoke, but i also want to lessen government involvement in people’s private lives so long as they are not hurting others. Is there a substance that explains your perpetual adolescence and argument style?

    2. they never address the problems…just deflect to alcohol….

      NO to changing the Constitution. It is one thing to put in by ballot measure, but an Amendment….

      Has any state amended its constitution to do this? or not?

      Why don’t we vote on heroin, cocaine, every drug at the ballot box, …crazy to regulate “medicine” this way also

  19. Dude! Change the constitution! Need help here! My mom keeps harping on me to get a job and do chores but I wanna chill and play Call of Duty. She is stressin me out so I need to toke my medicine

  20. Wow, I didn’t know this was so important that we need to amend our State Constitution.

    So is Johnson supposed to be a bright Democrat Star because daddy was a left-wing Senator that we suffered with for years? Why does that make him the anointed one? We are supposed to be America, not some monarchy where you get in just because your family is pseudo-royalty. Look at the damage the Kennedy clan did to this country; do we want that in South Dakota? Let Brendan move to California and push his socialist ideas.

    1. You sure you want to go down that path? The Republican legislature just voted down a nepotism bill. And Kennedy Noem works for the state now…

  21. Let me just say that approving a place for weed in the SD constitution wouldn’t nearly be as clowny 🤡 🌎 as the “Beyoncé Day” ratified by the MN senate. Weed is already here, legalize and regulate it, so we can turn our attention and resources to the SERIOUS drug problems that plague our state

    1. Don’t tell me it’s not serious. Read the HIDTA report that’s attached above and look at the facts, this is a horrible problem, but read the facts before you make a blanket statement that is absolutely untrue.

      1. The Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (RMHIDTA) paper is neither objective nor peer-reviewed. As a result, news media, politicians and others should review these materials with a skeptical eye. Here’s why:
        The RMHIDTA publicly opposes marijuana regulatory efforts in Colorado and in other states, and by statute, the agency is explicitly required to do so. HIDTA is mandated to “take such actions necessary to oppose any attempt to legalize” marijuana.
        In short, RMHIDTA is phoney baloney, good time rock and roll bullsh*t.

        1. Sure…brought to you by the Obama administration not exactly your anti-pot group.

          Just admit it, Marijuana is going to cause a long term problems with tons of lung cancer, not just the increase in juvenile use and more marijuana related DUIs the study shows

          If you are for DOPE–you are one!

            1. Tara are you sure you would like to use Steven Jobs as a post smoking genius?

              #1 Contrary to what snake oil carnival barkers Melissa Mentelle whatever & Co. over at Wrong Approach South Dakota smoking pot sure did not cure his cancer.

              #2 He was a terrible father. His daughter has spoken out. Weed sure did not help that relationship. It hurt it and she suffered for it.

              1. Quit using weed as an excuse for one’s behavior. You are either lazy or not. He would have been a bad father even if he didn’t smoke weed. It’s personal responsibility. He would have invented apple even if he wasn’t a pothead.

  22. Wow? So could we find enough professors who aren’t dope smoking liberals to review anything? MSNBC has an article about the upsurge in pot related traffic deaths in states who have legalized. That isn’t peer reviewed but coming from a bunch of liberal idiots it should mean something.

  23. Libertarian Party of South Dakota 2019 State Convention
    Libertarian Party of South Dakota 2019 State Convention
    Event · Sat, Jun 15 at 2 PM MDT · American Legion/Post 22 · Rapid City, South Dakota

    1. Tara you were a Democrat, then a Republican, Independent, Constitutional Party member and now Libertarian?

  24. You forgot Independent. Yes I’ve been every party…….but I really think I am going to enjoy the Libertarians. For the record I was Republican, Democrat, Independent, Republican, Independent, Constitution, Republican, Independent, Constitution, Libertarian. I might have missed one. But that is pretty close.

    1. Spin the dial and see where it lands? Would you be interested in joining the new Puritan Party of South Dakota?

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