{"id":2618,"date":"2021-11-24T19:00:44","date_gmt":"2021-11-24T19:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.leafly.com\/wp-home\/?p=186368"},"modified":"2021-11-24T19:00:44","modified_gmt":"2021-11-24T19:00:44","slug":"south-dakota-supreme-court-kills-adult-use-legalization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/?p=2618","title":{"rendered":"South Dakota Supreme Court kills adult-use legalization"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/south-dakota-supreme-court-kills-adult-use-legalization.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"><\/div>\n<p>  <title>South Dakota Supreme Court kills adult-use legalization &#8211; Leafly<\/title>     <!-- This is Index Exchange, a script\/\/3rd-party integration that interjects GAM. It needs to be 'ahead' of GTM in the DOM, which comes from Cephalopod. GTM loads GAM. This script needs to setup it's interjection stuff before GAM loads. --> <!-- End Index Exchange --> <!-- Quotes = strings--><!-- No quotes = boolean-->\t   <!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v17.5 (Yoast SEO v17.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->                  <!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. --> <\/p>\n<p> <!-- BEGIN Sailthru Horizon Meta Information --><\/p>\n<p><!-- END Sailthru Horizon Meta Information -->  <!-- Google Publisher Tag --> <!-- End Google Publisher Tag --> <!-- Google Tag Manager --> <!-- End Google Tag Manager --> <!-- Chartbeat --> <!-- End Chartbeat --><br \/>\n <!-- Google Tag Manager (noscript) -->   <\/p>\n<div id=\"copy_clipboard_success\" class=\"fixed top-0 left-0 right-0\">\n<div class=\"bg-white p-lg container mt-xl flex justify-between elevation-low rounded\"> <span class=\"flex items-center\">     <span class=\"ml-md\">Link copied to your clipboard<\/span> <\/span> <button id=\"copy_clipboard_close_btn\">    <\/button> <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> <!-- End Google Tag Manager (noscript) -->   <title>Leafly<\/title>     <title>Leafly \u00ae<\/title>                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              <title>Loading\u2026<\/title>          <\/p>\n<div class=\"bg-white fixed flex hidden inset-0 items-start md:h-auto md:items-center overflow-auto\" id=\"age-gate-container\">\n<div class=\"bg-white md:h-auto mx-auto p-lg text-sm w-full\" id=\"age-gate\">\n<p><label for=\"select-country\">Where are you from?<\/label><\/p>\n<div class=\"age-gate__info\">\n<p><button class=\"button\" data-testid=\"age-gate-no-button\" id=\"tou-cancel\">no<\/button><button class=\"button ml-md\" data-testid=\"age-gate-yes-button\" id=\"tou-continue\">yes<\/button><\/p>\n<p><label class=\"checkbox__label my-xl\"><span class=\"text-xs\" id=\"remember-user-label\">Remember me for 30 days. <br \/>I confirm that this is not a shared device.<\/span><\/label><\/p>\n<p class=\"error error--underage hidden\">Darn! You&#8217;re not old enough to use Leafly.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"hidden age-gate__loading\">Redirecting you to<span class=\"redirect-domain\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"text-xs mt-auto\">By accessing this site, you accept<br \/>\nthe <a class=\"py-xl\" data-testid=\"tou-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.com\/info\/terms-of-use\">Terms of Use<\/a><br \/>\nand <a class=\"py-xl\" data-testid=\"pp-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.com\/info\/privacy-policy\">Privacy Policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"container my-xl\">\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col md:col-9\" id=\"article-content\">\n<p>SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) \u2014 The South Dakota Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a lower court\u2019s ruling that nullified a voter-passed amendment to the state constitution that would have legalized recreational marijuana use.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote has-text-align-left\">\n<p>Gov. Kristi Noem praised the decision, which she pushed for.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Gov. Kristi Noem instigated the legal fight to strike down the amendment&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/health-south-dakota-fc9e2889c8fe3a8b7dc55b501ba91eb7\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">passed by voters in November<\/a>. Though the Republican governor opposed marijuana legalization as a social ill,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/constitutions-medical-marijuana-south-dakota-marijuana-kristi-noem-3888b3480448a4ca7bf71f7d6e455733\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">her administration\u2019s arguments in court centered on technical violations to the state constitution<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The high court sided with those arguments in a 4-1 decision, ruling that the measure \u2014 Amendment A \u2014 would have violated the state\u2019s requirement that constitutional amendments deal with just one subject.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is clear that Amendment A contains provisions embracing at least three separate subjects, each with distinct objects or purposes,\u201d Chief Justice Steven Jensen wrote in the majority opinion, which found recreational marijuana, medical marijuana and hemp each to be separate issues.<\/p>\n<p>About 54% of voters had approved the constitutional amendment last year. But Highway Patrol Superintendent Col. Rick Miller sued on Noem\u2019s behalf. Pennington County Sheriff Kevin Thom also joined the lawsuit. The high court ruled that the law enforcement officers did not have standing to sue, but because Noem authorized Miller\u2019s suit, they treated it as if Noem brought the lawsuit herself.<\/p>\n<p>Noem praised the decision, and noted that it would not change how she implements a separate, voter-passed law that legalizes medical marijuana. That law has already taken effect.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSouth Dakota is a place where the rule of law and our Constitution matter, and that\u2019s what today\u2019s decision is about,\u201d she said in a statement. \u201cWe do things right \u2014 and how we do things \u2014 matters just as much as what we are doing.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h-a-far-fetched-legal-theory\">\u2018A far-fetched legal theory\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>The state Supreme Court\u2019s decision upheld&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/constitutions-south-dakota-recreational-marijuana-marijuana-kristi-noem-c990e08307ca5016d789f7504cb6e7e6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">a circuit judge\u2019s ruling in February<\/a>. Advocates for legalization appealed, arguing that the Supreme Court should dismiss the legal challenge because it overturned the will of voters and dampened their future ability to enact laws through the ballot box.<\/p>\n<p>Matthew Schweich, the campaign director for South Dakotans for Better Marijuana Laws, called the ruling \u201cextremely flawed\u201d and reliant on \u201ca disrespectful assumption that South Dakota voters were intellectually incapable of understanding the initiative.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe court has rejected common sense and instead used a far-fetched legal theory to overturn a law passed by over 225,000 South Dakota voters based on no logical or evidentiary support,\u201d he said in a statement.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h-vote-again-and-again-and-again\">Vote again and again and again<\/h2>\n<p>Adult-use legalization is not going away in South Dakota.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/sd-state-wire-south-dakota-recreational-marijuana-constitutions-constitutional-amendments-18d2641b1e3a31ace3f4fbdd1b196f44\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Legalization advocates are trying to bring the issue<\/a>&nbsp;back to voters next year through a ballot measure that would instruct the Legislature to legalize it.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/health-marijuana-recreational-marijuana-bills-legislature-bbfc74a18b8d015364acad2aa5ae1718\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Lawmakers are also considering legalizing cannabis for adults<\/a>&nbsp;in the upcoming legislative session.<\/p>\n<p>Cannabis has&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/us-regions-embrace-marijuana-dcca7c6336ed3d4deb74fac861fa6131\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">become broadly accepted around the United States<\/a>, with a Gallup Poll last year showing 68% of Americans favored legalization. South Dakota was among four states that month to approve recreational marijuana, along with New Jersey, Arizona and Montana. Fifteen states and the District of Columbia have done so.<\/p>\n<div class=\"leafly-sailthru-signup p-lg my-xl bg-white rounded elevation-low border border-light-grey\">\n<p class=\"text-xs pt-lg\">By submitting this form, you will be subscribed to news and promotional emails from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.com\">Leafly<\/a> and you agree to Leafly&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.com\/company\/tos\">Terms of Service<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.com\/company\/privacy-policy\">Privacy Policy<\/a>. You can unsubscribe from Leafly email messages anytime.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p> <!-- Chartbeat --> <!-- End Chartbeat -->  <!--\nPerformance optimized by W3 Total Cache. Learn more: https:\/\/www.boldgrid.com\/w3-total-cache\/ Served from: _ @ 2021-11-24 19:02:03 by W3 Total Cache\n--><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>South Dakota Supreme Court kills adult-use legalization &#8211; Leafly Link copied to your clipboard Leafly Leafly \u00ae Loading\u2026 Where are you from? noyes Remember me for 30 days. I confirm that this is not a shared device. Darn! You&#8217;re not old enough to use Leafly. Redirecting you to By accessing this site, you accept the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) \u2014 The South Dakota Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a lower court\u2019s ruling that nullified a voter-passed amendment to the state constitution that would have legalized recreational marijuana use. Gov. Kristi Noem praised the decision,&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2619,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-marijuana_information"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/south-dakota-supreme-court-kills-adult-use-legalization.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2618"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2618\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}