SD unlikely to pass adult-use cannabis law this year, key lawmaker says

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South Dakota entrepreneurs likely won’t see recreational cannabis become law in 2022, according to Senate President Pro Tem Lee Schoenbeck.

According to Sioux Falls TV station KELO, Schoenbeck said “it’s highly unlikely that the Legislature passes recreational marijuana” this year.

Lawmakers on the state’s Marijuana Interim Study Committee voted 14-10 in October to bring forward a bill to legalize some of the same provisions in Amendment A.

South Dakota voters passed Amendment A in November 2020 and would have created a recreational cannabis market in the state.

However, in February 2021, a circuit court judge ruled that the amendment, which would have gone into effect July 1 of that year, was unconstitutional.

Then, in November, the state Supreme Court struck down on technical grounds the recreational marijuana initiative.

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Senate Bill 3 would allow for the sale and regulation of marijuana.

State Rep. Will Mortenson told KELO that an initiated measure likely will make the ballot in 2022, thus giving voters another opportunity to legalize adult-use marijuana.

Petitions are circulating for a 2022 ballot question to legalize the possession, use and distribution of marijuana.

That proposal is written in much simpler language than Amendment A, the TV station reported.