A panel decided Tuesday to move forward on a way to legalize marijuana for all purposes for people age 21 and older in South Dakota but keeping the current medical-cannabis program in place for people younger than 21.

The 8-2 recommendation came from the Legislature’s subcommittee on adult-use marijuana. The next steps are for the full marijuana study committee to decide whether the proposed bill should proceed and then to seek a green light from the Legislature’s Executive Board.

If those clearances occur, the legislation would be introduced in the 2022 session that opens in January. The bill would then go through the standard process of committee action and possibly votes by the 70-member House of Representatives and the 35-member Senate.

Read the full story at Keloland.

A marijuana lobbying organization isn’t waiting on the South Dakota Supreme Court to decide if cannabis is outright legal for adult use in the Mount Rushmore State. Continue reading “Group working to give SD voters another chance at legalizing marijuana” →

Marsy’s Law, which guarantees victims’ rights in the South Dakota constitution, is falling short. Continue reading “Is Marsy’s Law affecting your rights?” →

Minnehaha County commissioners fear law enforcement could be overrun with calls if medical marijuana is widely accessible. Continue reading “Minnehaha commissioners fear police will be overrun with calls” →

South Dakota governor Kristi Noem issued an executive order to limit abortion access in her state following the historically-restrictive law signed in Texas last week. Continue reading “Noem signs executive order restricting abortion access” →

Governor Kristi Noem has told her office’s “unborn-child advocate” Mark Millerto review South Dakota’s abortion laws. Continue reading “Noem orders review of SD abortion laws” →

A Republican-dominated panel of South Dakota lawmakers recommended several changes to the medical cannabis legalization measure that voters passed in 2020, including giving local governments the ability to ban MMJ companies entirely and eliminating home-cultivation rights. Continue reading “South Dakota legislators seek to make changes to medical cannabis law” →

South Dakota required citizens to submit petitions for statewide initiated laws a full year before the general election… until this afternoon, when United States District Court Judge Charles Kornmann declared that deadline unconstitutionally restrictive on First Amendment rights. South Dakota law used to give sponsors until the first Tuesday in May to submit petitions for initiated laws, before the Legislature started taking that time away. Today’s ruling thus gives us back six months of legal petition time.

However, today’s beating was not total! Judge Kornmann applies his ruling strictly to initiated laws, not initiated constitutional amendments. Judge Kornmann says constitutional amendments warrant more scrutiny, and the one year petition deadline for initiated amendments is part of both statute and the constitution itself (Article 23, Section 1). So all you folks out there circulating petitions for constitutional amendments to expand Medicaid, establish independent redistricting, and run top-two primaries, well, I apologize—I couldn’t win you a later deadline. Your petitions are still due on November 8.

Read the full story at the Dakota Free Press.

Continue reading “Types of Criminal Law” →