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South Dakota medical marijuana initiative makes November ballot PDF Print E-mail
Written by Chris Conrad   
South Dakota officials certified May 31 that a petition drive had submitted enough signatures to qualify a medical marijuana initiative for the fall ballot. Sponsored by South Dakotans for Medical Marijuana, sdmedicalmarijuana.org, the initiative would make SD the twelfth state to pass a such a law; the first in the Midwest.

The group turned in more than 24,000 signatures May 2. According to organizers, the state initiative, if passed, would:

•    Protect seriously ill patients and caregivers who possess and cultivate limited amounts of cannabis with a doctors’ approval from arrest and prosecution ;

SD would be the first state in the Midwest to adopt medical use.

•    Create registry identification cards, so that law enforcement officials will be able to easily tell who is a qualified patient and who is not, and establish penalties for false statements and fraudulent ID cards;
•    Protect doctors from being punished for advising their patients that -- in their sincere professional judgment -- the benefits of the medical use of cannabis for the patient would exceed the risks;
•    Allow patients and caregivers to raise a medical defense in court; and
•    Prohibit the public use of cannabis and driving under the influence of cannabis, among other restrictions.
 
    The SD legislature has refused to act on medical marijuana bills in recent years. Similarly, in the case of Matthew Ducheneaux, a paraplegic Lakota who used cannabis to ease muscle spasms, the SD courts passed on the opportunity to allow the medical necessity defense.

    Now, the voters will have their say.

 
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