Friend –

We are gearing up for another fight to place cannabis legalization on the November 2024 ballot and we have a big announcement coming soon! In the meantime, we’ve been ensuring that those who are attempting to criminalize cannabis patients are held accountable.

On September 6, 2023, a petition filed by our opponents to repeal South Dakota’s medical cannabis law was approved by the South Dakota Secretary of State. However, we discovered that this petition violates South Dakota’s election laws. On September 20, 2023, SDBML wrote a letter to South Dakota Secretary of State Monae Johnson urging her to: (1) revoke the existing illegal petition; and (2) require the sponsor to redesign and refile the petition in full accordance with the law:

It is our opinion that Travis Ismay’s petition, titled “An Initiated Measure Repealing South Dakota’s Medical Marijuana Program” and approved for circulation on September 7, 2023, is in violation of section 2-1-1.2 of the South Dakota Codified Laws.

Specifically, we believe the phrase “See Exhibit A for the 95 sections that will be repealed,” violates SDCL 2-1-1.2, which requires that petitions “Contain the full text of the initiated measure in fourteen point font.” Our interpretation of this statute is that a reference to additional text, in this case an exhibit, is not permissible…

We strongly believe that the rules of our state’s initiative process should be applied consistently to all South Dakotans. Therefore, we respectfully recommend that your office take the following action: revoke Ismay’s approved petition and direct him to refile it. This simple remedy would allow Ismay to collect signatures for his petition in full accordance with state law.

We continue to fight for the rights of medical patients and defend the law that was passed by 69.9% of voters in 2020. Make sure to read today’s Dakota Scout article about our efforts to uphold the law.

As I mentioned earlier, we’re going to have an exciting announcement this week. Stay tuned…