Cannabis legalization makes it on another South Dakota ballot
Voters to weigh in on recreational marijuana for third time since 2020
Cannabis reformists hope the third time is a charm.
The South Dakota Secretary of State announced Monday a proposed initiated measure to legalize cannabis has qualified for the general election ballot, with South Dakotans for Better Marijuana Laws securing enough signatures of qualified registered voters to force a vote in November.
“We worked extremely hard on this signature drive and we are proud to have once again successfully qualified for the ballot,” SDBML Executive Director Matthew Schweich said.
The petition required 17,508 valid signatures from registered South Dakota voters in order to qualify. The final tally from the Secretary of State, based on a random sampling, was 22,558 valid signatures.
Qualification for the ballot in 2024 is the latest chapter in South Dakota’s years-long debate over cannabis policy. In 2020, voters approved cannabis for adult use through a constitutional amendment, but the law was rescinded after the South Dakota Supreme Court struck it down as a violation of the state’s single-subject requirement of proposed constitutional amendments.
South Dakota voters again had a chance to legalize cannabis via the ballot box in 2022, but instead rejected a scale-down proposal by SDBML, that time via an initiated measure. SDBML hopes this year is different.
“We firmly believe that South Dakotans deserve to make their own choices on how they live their lives, including the freedom to responsibly use cannabis,” said Zebadiah Johnson, political director for SDBML.
The general election is Nov. 5.
Would be nice if all our state’s talk of freedom wasn’t an ironic joke for once.
Our audaciously arrogant governor, in orchestrating the previous legal challenge to the clear will of the people on cannabis, has made her position perfectly clear. How dare the citizens of the state not respect her wishes. If you haven't noticed, it's all about Kristi. Even her constant fumbles and stumbles can't deter her from her shameless self-promotion to get what she wants. Although thoroughly embarrassed and disgraced, Noem crawls on like a shameless cockroach instead of serving her state by resigning. Damn the NRA for not taking her off our hands.