South Dakota Officials Release Rewritten Medical Cannabis Rules

The South Dakota Department of Health has released a rewritten version of some of the state’s medical cannabis rules after the Legislature’s Rules Review Committee rejected previous versions, KELO reports. The proposals include limiting extended home grows for patients, prohibiting patients under 21-years-old from possessing inhalable cannabis, medical cannabis packaging and warning requirements, and outlining prohibited forms of advertising for the industry.

The advertising rules prevent most advertising of medical cannabis in the state “unless and until the United States Drug Enforcement Administration removes marijuana or cannabis as a Schedule I controlled substance,” the document states. The proposals ban handbill distribution; direct mail, phone, text, or email campaigns to non-verified patients; through most publications; on radio, TV, and other media, at all healthcare facilities, and signs and billboards—unless they are located on the dispensary’s own premises.

The warning rules mirror those implemented in other states, including a minimum half-inch by half-inch label that says the product “contains cannabis” and “for medical use by qualifying patients only.” The label must also include a warning for pregnant women and for driving or using heavy machinery. The label must also include a warning that “cannabis has a high potential for abuse” and that medical cannabis has not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for any condition or disease.

The labeling rules in South Dakota are also consistent with what is required in other states where cannabis has been legalized in some form: tamper-proof, child-proof, resealable, and fully enclosable.

Health Department Spokesman Daniel Bucheli told KELO that the agency is “reconsidering the handful of rules” and are continuing work on the final draft for the rules that will be sent back to lawmakers for their approval.