Health care groups propose easing medical pot certifications | Local News

SIOUX FALLS (AP) – South Dakota’s largest healthcare providers suggested on Monday that lawmakers drop part of the requirement for people seeking medical marijuana IDs in order to get a doctor’s recommendation on how to use the drug.

Under the proposal, doctors would still have to certify that patients suffer from conditions such as severe pain, seizures, or multiple sclerosis that would qualify them for a medical marijuana pass. You wouldn’t have to specifically recommend that medical marijuana be used to treat the condition, however.

The proposal was welcomed by medical marijuana advocates, who feared patients will have difficulty obtaining medical pot recommendations from doctors. Doctors have raised concerns about recommending medical marijuana as the state prepares for legalization.

Although a bill passed by voters to legalize medical marijuana goes into effect July 1, the entire medical cannabis program is still in flux. The state has until November to start issuing ID cards, which means people will not be able to buy legal medical cannabis until then. The state legislature is now planning changes to the law.

Sarah Aker, the financial policy director for the South Dakota Association of Healthcare Organizations, said there was “serious concern from medical practitioners” about medical marijuana certifications. She said doctors are reluctant to recommend cannabis because of the lack of extensive research into its medicinal benefits, but they might find it easier to write certifications if they don’t specifically recommend the use of cannabis.

Jeremiah Murphy, a lobbyist for the Cannabis Industry Association of South Dakota, said medical marijuana advocates would support the removal of this part of the referral requirement. But he opposed two other potential legislative changes that lawmakers were discussing: restricting patients’ ability to grow cannabis at home and allowing local governments to get into the medical marijuana business by obtaining retail licenses from the state.

Meanwhile, several Native American tribes in the state are planning to get into the cannabis industry to allow people to buy marijuana in tribal areas where it has been legalized. Ross Garelick Bell, a lobbyist for Crow Creek Sioux, Oglala Lakota and Yankton Sioux, said tribal governments are hoping to “tie” their own marijuana programs to South Dakota regulations.

However, it remains unclear what the final medical cannabis laws in South Dakota will look like. Republican lawmakers vacillated between reminding them that they had a duty to carry out the will of voters and warning that legalizing medical marijuana would have grave implications. Legislators listened for over an hour when Dr. Kenneth Finn, a Colorado doctor who was an outspoken critic of marijuana legalization, warned of an increase in cannabis use among children and an increase in emergency rooms for people who react badly to the drug.

Although legislators have taken lightly the new law, which was passed with 70% of the vote, they have made it clear that they will make at least some changes.

Republican MP Fred Deutsch said: “Are we improving the law or are we building some important guard rails?”

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