South Dakota Tribe to Launch Medical Cannabis Sales This Week

South Dakota’s Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe is set to open the state’s first medical cannabis dispensary on July 1, the day the voter-approved reforms take effect and months before the system that will be implemented by the South Dakota Department of Health, the Sioux Falls Argus Leader reports.

The tribe is already accepting applications for patients who must have “a chronic or debilitating disease or medical condition or its treatment” that causes “cachexia or wasting syndrome; severe, debilitating pain; severe nausea; seizures; or severe and persistent muscle spasms, including, those characteristic of multiple sclerosis.” Patients who would also generally experience health benefits from using cannabis—such as those with AIDS, anorexia, arthritis, cancer, migraines, and glaucoma— would also be eligible if recommended by a physician.

“The tribe’s goals for the development of cannabis is similar to other jurisdictions. It wants a safe product to produce revenue for tribal programs, to curtail black-market sales of cannabis, and to prevent illegal diversion, especially to children. The program that it developed does that, and also complies with the Department of Justice memoranda that were issued in 2013 and 2014.”—Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe in a statement via the Argus Leader

The tribe’s dispensary will also accept medical cannabis patients enrolled in programs in other states, countries, or from other tribes. The cost of the ID card is $50.

Last week, South Dakota officials launched a medical cannabis website but enrolling patients into the program is not expected until October.