South Dakota Voters Say No to Adult-Use Cannabis Legalization

South Dakota made history in 2020 when voters approved medical and adult-use cannabis legalization on the same ballot.

The state’s first medical cannabis sales launched in July, but litigation ultimately overturned the adult-use measure, Amendment A, which was a constitutional amendment that aimed to legalize cannabis for adults 21 and older.

The lawsuit, brought by law enforcement and backed by Gov. Kristi Noem, challenged Amendment A on the grounds that it violated South Dakota’s one-subject rule and actually revised the state’s constitution rather than amended it.

A circuit judge struck down the measure in February 2021, and the South Dakota Supreme Court upheld the ruling in November 2021.

State lawmakers then attempted to restore the will of their constituents by considering an adult-use cannabis legalization bill during the 2022 legislative session, but the legislation ultimately stalled.

In the meantime, South Dakotans for Better Marijuana Laws (SDBML) collected the roughly 17,000 signatures required to get a new adult-use cannabis legalization measure before voters in the 2022 election.

Matthew Schweich, deputy director for both the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) and SDBML, told Cannabis Business Times last month that Measure 27 was the “shortest, simplest, most cautious approach” to legalization.

“We commiserate with the people of South Dakota over the failure of this recent legalization initiative,” Travis Copenhaver, partner at cannabis law firm Vicente Sederberg LLP, said in a public statement. “It’s unfortunate that it did not succeed, and even more unfortunate that the matter was once again put to a vote after the success of 2020’s initiatives. This defeat is not the end, and we believe that South Dakota will soon join the ranks of states that have legalized cannabis.”

A statewide poll conducted in July by Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy of Florida revealed that support for adult-use cannabis legalization in South Dakota may have waned since the 2020 election; the survey of 500 registered voters showed that 43.8% of respondents favored adult-use cannabis legalization, while 54.4% expressed opposition to the issue.

“It’s a disappointment that South Dakota has—once again—failed to legalize adult-use cannabis,” Jeffrey Zucker, vice chair of the MPP Board of Directors and president of cannabis-focused business strategy firm Green Lion Partners, said in a public statement. “If there’s anything that these past election cycles have proven, it’s that cannabis activists in South Dakota don’t give up easily. I maintain hope for an adult-use industry in South Dakota’s future, and I know activists in the state will continue to do all they can to make this happen.”

Meanwhile, Noem was up for re-election, running against Democrat Jamie Smith, who currently serves as the minority leader of the South Dakota House of Representatives.

Smith has indicated support for adult-use cannabis legalization, stating on his campaign website: “In South Dakota, the people rule. As governor, I will always seek to carry out the will of the people. We must acknowledge and carry out that decision, which means legalizing recreational cannabis rather than wasting taxpayer dollars on lawsuits. Legalization will also create thousands of potential new jobs and increase our annual GDP by more than $14 million.”

RELATED: Where Candidates Stand on Cannabis in All 36 Gubernatorial Races

As of 5:45 a.m. CT / 6:45 a.m. ET on Wednesday, unofficial election results from the Associated Press showed that Noem had won re-election, receiving 62% of the vote while Smith received 35.2% with 97% of precincts reporting.

Noem told KELOLAND News in September that she “absolutely” supports the will of the voters this time, now that the adult-use legalization measure has been revised.