South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem playing politics with pot with eye on 2022 election, says marijuana advocate — The South Dakota Standard

Medical marijuana is legal in South Dakota on July 1st.

But don’t rush to your doctor for a pot prescription. Slow down your role, medical stoners.

At the end of October at the earliest, the state will not allow rolling a joint, packing a pipe or whistling your brain out – for medical reasons, of course. Why? Because of legal challenges, bureaucracy – and Gov. Kristi Noem’s determined efforts to block as both medical and recreational marijuana were approved by voters last fall.

There are still areas that are as unclear as having a college dorm after a smoke festival Sniffer dog or Allman brothers Music floats in the air. The Flandreau Santee Sioux tribe plans to put medicinal pot on sale.

The Sioux Falls Argus leader reports that the tribe is hiring people to dispose of marijuana as soon as possible. Other tribes may have the same authority over their own property: this is a legal issue that has yet to be decided.

The Black Hills pioneer Newspaper investigates how the law will play out. Lawrence County Attorney John Fitzgerald is trying to fix things, but he believes people with medical marijuana certificates from other states could legally buy cannabis from a legal pharmacy.

However, the state cannot allow any until October 29, at least on non-tribal land.

Sioux Falls and Minnehaha County are also trying to figure out how to deal with this fundamental change in marijuana laws. It will be a problem for every county, town, and town as local laws can and will vary.

So while the South Dakotans have wanted marijuana – both recreational and medicinal marijuana – legal since July 1, the state has been fighting it since the vote was counted.

Leisure pot Has been blocked to a technical problem of the judge at the district court Christina Klinger – a Noem representative by the way. The case is now in the South Dakota Supreme Court, and they may come up with a decision that makes this even more confusing.

So it was surprising that the state launched a medical cannabis website this week and Noem (See above in an montage created by Lex Villena and Gage Skidmore, published in reason) submitted a declaration of support for this as well as Youtube Video that shows … them of course.

“One of my duties as governor is to ensure that the will of the people and all constitutional laws are enforced,” Noem said in the statement. “I want South Dakota to have the best, most patient-centric medical cannabis program in the country. I’ve heard of people who are hurt and hoping for relief. My team is 100% committed to getting this program started as quickly and responsibly as possible for South Dakota. ”

The state health and education ministries will create and operate the new regulatory program – “to ensure the safety of patients, students and the public in this new industry,” according to a state press release.

Noem said the state was trying to clear the air.

“We’re working hard to streamline the process to give people medical cards,” she said. “Other countries made mistakes that we don’t want to repeat, so we proceeded cautiously.”

Matthew Schweich, deputy director of the National Marijuana Policy Project and a key figure in South Dakota grassroots campaigns (you know I would use them at some point) wonders why Noem changed their message so dramatically.

Could politics be more of a concern than pot? That is his question.

“Why did @говкристиноем decide to shoot a video for the recently started video http://medcannabis.sd.gov (the state government’s website for the medical cannabis program of South Dakota) after spending so much time and effort on her anti-cannabis crusade? ”asked Schweich on Twitter.

“Maybe it’s because she likes to be featured in SD government videos (see SD tourism advertising) to raise her profile. Their general mindset is that government resources can be used for political purposes (see Bring SD Highway Patrol Officers to ME for Trump Event).

“But I have a different theory… I think the governor’s polls told her that the anti-cannabis crusade is pretty unpopular with voters in South Dakota. So it has to turn now. Now she must be the responsible and compassionate steward of medical marijuana.

Most of them do not notice that @govkristinoem “Very narrowly” won the 2018 elections, despite being a well-funded Republican with high profile who ran against an incumbent Democrat in a red state (the SD has not elected an MP to governor since the 1970s). “

1974, when Democratic Governor Dick Kneip won his third term in office, to be precise. Since then, Bill Janklow has won four terms, George S. Mickelson, Mike Rounds and Dennis Daugaard two terms each.

Noem beat Democratic nominee Billie Sutton by 51-48%, by about a margin 11,500 votes. She was swept to victory by the bright red West River voters; Sutton carried Sioux Falls, and nearly a third of South Dakota voters live in the metropolitan Sioux Falls area.

Many of these voters also supported recreational and medicinal marijuana. Both got a high percentage of the vote – of course they had to use it too – as Noem, and there’s no doubt she noticed.

So Schweich wondered if that explains her sudden statements of support for legal smoking.

“There isn’t much room for error next year,” he wrote. “Trampling on people’s wills, attacking personal freedoms and advocating for strict marijuana laws is not a luxury they can afford. So now we’re seeing a rebranding. I don’t think South Dakotans can be fooled. “

He makes several good points. One question is, will the South Dakota Democrats bet pot on their platform? They avoided advocating marijuana and legalizing sports betting in 2020 when they lost statewide races while both issues were approved.

Could marijuana be a big deal in the 2022 elections? Will the Democrats go along?

Is Noem, a shrewd politician who has never lost a race and who has beaten some prominent opponents in the past decade, aware of this? Is she trying to position herself so she doesn’t get hurt when applying for a second term?

At the moment it’s too smoky to see clearly into the future.

Tom Lawrence has written for several newspapers and websites in South Dakota and other states, and has contributed to NPR, The London Telegraph, The Daily Beast, and other media outlets.