Cannabis legalization measure falls short in South Dakota

On November 5, 2024, adult-use cannabis legalization fell shy of passage in South Dakota. Incomplete results show the ballot measure garnering 44% of the vote, with 55% voting "no."

This comes after a long and hard-fought battle by South Dakotans for Better Marijuana Laws, on a shoestring budget. MPP was proud to have its own Matthew Schweich serve as the leader and spokesperson on the ground in South Dakota.

South Dakota voters had approved an MPP-backed legalization measure in 2020, only to have the state Supreme Court outrageously throw out the measure based on "single subject" ruling. That forced 2024's Measure 29 to be extremely simple, and to lack many features of other legalization laws that can help build popular support. It simply included legal possession and cultivation, without any regulated sales or taxation.

While Measure 29's defeat is a major disappointment, several other states where voters ultimately legalized cannabis saw defeats before success, including Colorado, California, Alaska, Oregon, and Nevada. The same was true of medical cannabis in South Dakota.

South Dakota’s Medical Cannabis Laws

South Dakota made history in 2020, by being the first state where voters approved both a medical cannabis initiative and an adult-use legalization law.

While the voter-approved 2020 adult-use initiative was unjustly overturned in court, thankfully South Dakotans were able to provide protections for medical patients. In a landslide, 70% of voters approved Measure 26, which MPP championed. The law came at a time when the harsh existing laws could land a medical patient in jail for simply possessing small amounts of marijuana.

Later, in 2021, Governor Noem attempted to get the legislature to delay the medical cannabis law by a year, despite it having 70% voter support. MPP and our allies defeated this attempt to undermine voters’ law.

South Dakota’s current medical marijuana law allows patients to legally use cannabis if they qualify and register with the program. Qualifying conditions include chronic medical conditions producing severe, debilitating pain; wasting; severe nausea; seizures; and severe and persistent muscle spasms. South Dakota’s medical cannabis program allows limited home cultivation, along with the regulated sales of medical cannabis.

Earlier Medical Marijuana History in South Dakota:

Medical marijuana was previously on South Dakota’s ballot in 2006 and 2010 but failed to pass both times. The 2006 initiative lost 47%-52% and the 2010 initiative lost 36%-63%.

But the third measure passed in a landslide. Be sure to plug in to efforts to expand cannabis freedom for all adults —  South Dakotans for Better Marijuana Laws.

Stay connected

To stay updated on the status of marijuana policy reform in South Dakota, be sure to subscribe to MPP's alerts, if you haven't done so already.