Ballot initiative to legalize adult-use marijuana introduced in South Dakota
- Advocates in South Dakota have launched a voter initiative to legalize adult-use marijuana, less than two years after the rejection of a similar ballot measure.
- The ballot measure, submitted by cannabis consultant Emmett Reistroffer, needs 17,509 valid petition signatures to qualify for the 2024 election.
- If approved and passed by voters, the proposal would allow the state's medical marijuana dispensaries to sell recreational cannabis products.
- South Dakota voters previously approved an adult-use market in 2020, but it was overturned by Gov. Kristi Noem.
Less than two years after South Dakotans rejected a ballot measure to allow marijuana possession and home grows, advocates have launched a voter initiative to legalize an adult-use market.
The ballot measure, submitted by cannabis consultant and Rapid City resident Emmett Reistroffer, needs 17,509 valid petition signatures to qualify for the 2024 election, according to the Business of Cannabis.
If approved for the ballot and subsequently passed by voters, the proposal would authorize the South Dakota Department of Health to issue dual-use licenses for the state’s medical marijuana dispensaries to sell recreational cannabis products, the news outlet reported.
An April poll indicated voters are split on the issue of adult-use marijuana.
South Dakota voters in 2020 approved an adult-use market, but that action was eventually overturned through the efforts of anti-marijuana Gov. Kristi Noem.
In that same election, South Dakota voters approved a medical marijuana market.
MMJ sales in the state launched in July 2022.