After South Dakota’s Election Day defeat of adult-use legalization, an emboldened lawmaker is moving to repeal the state’s medical cannabis law.
House Bill 1101, introduced Monday by Republican state Rep. Travis Ismay, would simply repeal the state’s 2020 medical-marijuana law and outlaw the more than 100 legal cannabis businesses in the state.
It’s Ismay’s second effort to undo MMJ in the state, according to Dakota News Now.
South Dakota voters legalized medical marijuana in 2020 despite opposition from influential politicians such as then-Gov. Kristi Noem.
That same ballot initiative also legalized adult-use cannabis.
However, the South Dakota Supreme Court later struck down the adult-use provision after a state law enforcement official filed suit on Noem’s behalf.
Voters later rejected two subsequent legalization measures – an adult-use initiative this past November and a 2022 initiative allowing adults to possess and use home-grown cannabis.
In a recent appeal to fellow lawmakers to co-sponsor his repeal bill, Ismay called medical marijuana a “travesty” that state voters had “crammed down their throat,” according to politics blog Dakota War College.
“If anyone knew what this Law actually said, they would never have voted for this,” he claimed.
Polling suggests a more nuanced story, with a 2023 South Dakota State University survey showing voters split on recreational cannabis.
In the meantime, the state’s medical marijuana industry is already suffering.
At least eight dispensaries closed in 2024 because of low patient counts and competition from other stores, the South Dakota Searchlight reported in December.
South Dakota has a relatively low patient count, with 11,497 approved patient cards as of Jan. 8, according to state data.
That’s down from a high of 13,705 a year ago.
Observers attribute the decline in MMJ interest to the wide availability of products with intoxicating levels of hemp-derived THC in the state.
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