Despite the failure of a recreational marijuana legalization measure to gain the approval of a majority of voters in last month’s midterm elections, activists in South Dakota are already planning for a new bid to legalize adult-use cannabis in 2024. 

The group South Dakotans for Better Marijuana Laws has taken the first official step to launch a new cannabis legalization bid for 2024 by filing a draft of the proposed ballot initiative with the state’s Legislative Research Council, according to media reports. The move comes less than two months after a recreational pot legalization measure known as Initiated Measure 27 failed at the polls in the November elections, garnering just over 47% of ballots cast.

If it had been passed, Measure 27 would have legalized the possession and use of cannabis and marijuana paraphernalia. The ballot initiative also would have allowed adults 21 and older to possess or distribute up to one ounce of marijuana. Those living in a jurisdiction without a licensed marijuana retailer would have been allowed to grow up to three cannabis plants in a secure location at home.

Activists who campaigned for this year’s unsuccessful ballot proposal believe that the lower voter participation typical of midterm elections compared to those that include a race for U.S. president may have been a factor in the defeat of Measure 27.

“We think the only reason it lost is because of really low turnout… we are eager to restore the will of the people,” said Matthew Schweich, deputy director of South Dakotans for Better Marijuana laws, which also led the campaign to pass the 2022 cannabis legalization ballot measure.

The failure of Initiative 27 came despite a similar proposal gaining a solid majority of votes only two years earlier, when President Joseph Biden beat his predecessor Donald Trump at the polls. A 2020 ballot measure to legalize adult-use cannabis passed with 54% of the vote, but a legal challenge supported by Republican Governor Kristi Noem led to the state Supreme Court invalidating the measure on procedural grounds.

Cannabis Reform Opponents Also Preparing For 2024

Opponents of cannabis reform believe that the issue of recreational marijuana legalization has already been settled at the polls, despite the invalidated successful ballot measure only two years ago. Republican state Representative Fred Deutsch, who also serves as the treasurer for the cannabis prohibitionist group Protecting South Dakota Kids, is opposed to another bid to legalize marijuana in the 2024 elections.

“They brought it, and they brought it, and they brought it… they said we should respect the will of the voters throughout the campaign,” said Deutsch. “Well, apparently, they are not going to respect the will of the voters… and they are going to bring it back again.” 

Deutsch added that he intends to sponsor a bill in the next legislative session that would prohibit similar initiatives from being placed on the ballot in consecutive election cycles. Additionally, Protecting South Dakota Kids plans to create a nonprofit group with the same name and hire a lobbyist to work in the state capital full-time during the 2023 legislative session in order to counter the efforts of cannabis reform advocates.

“This last year in Pierre, the pro-marijuana lobbyists outgunned us five to one, six to one… I didn’t count them, but they were swarming the Capitol,” said Deutsch. “The marijuana industry puts a lot of money into hiring these guys, and we hope to push back just a little bit.”

Proponents of another attempt to legalize adult-use cannabis in South Dakota believe that the success of the measure is likely to hinge on the ability of activists to raise the money to mount an effective race in 2024. Media reports cite “lackluster fundraising” as a factor in this year’s loss.

“The biggest hurdle is making sure you can run a well-funded campaign, and it is too early to say whether we can or can’t,” said Schweich. “But we are going to try and move through the process and build up a network of people who can donate generously and make sure that we do have a well-funded campaign.”

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After leading a successful legal challenge against a voter-approved recreational pot amendment, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem says she won’t stand in the way the second time around. 

Voters in the state will decide next week on Initiated Measure 27, a proposal to legalize personal possession of marijuana for adults aged 21 and older. 

Noem, a Republican who is up for re-election this year, remains opposed to marijuana legalization. But at a campaign town hall in Rapid City on Thursday, the governor said she would uphold the will of voters if they pass Measure 27.

“If it passes, it’s going to be implemented. That’s just the facts,” Noem told voters, as quoted by the Rapid City Journal.

Fifty-four percent of South Dakota voters approved an amendment in 2020 that would have legalized recreational marijuana in the state. But Noem helped lead a legal challenge that ultimately led to the state Supreme Court striking down the amendment. 

At the campaign stop last week, Noem defended her actions, saying that the law would have run afoul of the state constitution. 

“I raised my right hand and said that I would uphold the state Constitution and the U.S. Constitution. The basis of every decision comes from that,” Noem said, according to the Rapid City Journal.

Advocates were confident that Measure 27 could match the showing of the 2020 amendment, but polling has indicated that its passage is anything but a certainty.

In August, a Mason-Dixon poll found that 54% of South Dakota voters are against legalization, while 44% are in support.

A South Dakota State University poll released earlier this month found that 47% of voters in the state are opposed to legalizing recreational marijuana, while 45% support the idea and another eight percent are unsure. A poll from Emerson College released last week painted an even bleaker picture, showing 50% of voters intend to vote no Measure 27 compared with about 40% who intend to vote yes. 

Noem is facing a challenge from Democrat Jamie Smith, who has frequently criticized the governor for overturning the 2020 amendment. The poll from Emerson College showed Noem with a large lead over Smith heading into Election Day. 

The South Dakota Supreme Court ruled last November that the 2020 proposal, Amendment A, violated the constitution’s single subject requirement. (The amendment sought to legalize recreational and medical marijuana, along with hemp.)

“This constitutional directive could not be expressed more clearly—each subject must be voted on separately—and simply severing certain provisions may or may not reflect the actual will of the voters,” said Chief Justice Steven Jensen in the majority opinion. “Therefore, we cannot accept Proponents’ suggestion that excising the medical marijuana and hemp provisions from Amendment A in favor of retaining the provisions regulating and legalizing recreational marijuana is an appropriate remedy. Amendment A is void in its entirety.”

Noem celebrated the ruling.

“South Dakota is a place where the rule of law and our Constitution matter, and that’s what today’s decision is about,” she said at the time. “We do things right—and how we do things matters just as much as what we are doing. We are still governed by the rule of law. This decision does not affect my Administration’s implementation of the medical cannabis program voters approved in 2020. That program was launched earlier this month, and the first cards have already gone out to eligible South Dakotans.” 

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Two years ago, South Dakota was a symbol of the radical shift in attitudes toward marijuana use in America—a deep red, Trump-loving state that had defied conventional wisdom and embraced weed.

But next month, the Mount Rushmore State could deal a reality check to the legalization movement.

Voters there are set to decide on Initiated Measure 27, which would legalize personal possession of marijuana for adults aged 21 and older in the state. Recent polling suggests that the electorate is split.

A new South Dakota State University poll released this week found that 47% of voters in the state are opposed to legalizing recreational marijuana, while 45% support the idea. Eight percent said they aren’t sure.

Initiated Measure 27 represents something of a do-over for advocates, after an amendment to legalize recreational cannabis was approved by South Dakota voters in 2020 only to be struck down by the courts following a legal challenge mounted by the state’s Republican Gov. Kristi Noem.

Fifty-four percent of voters in the state approved Amendment A, but the state Supreme Court ultimately overturned it last November, ruling that it violated the South Dakota constitution’s “one subject” requirement for constitutional amendments.

Amendment A sought to change the state law on recreational marijuana, medical cannabis, and hemp. (Voters in South Dakota also approved a separate ballot proposal in 2020 that specifically legalized medical cannabis).

The state constitution “not only includes a single subject requirement but also directs proponents of a constitutional amendment to prepare an amendment so that the different subjects can be voted on separately,” Chief Justice Steven Jensen wrote in the majority opinion.

“This constitutional directive could not be expressed more clearly—each subject must be voted on separately—and simply severing certain provisions may or may not reflect the actual will of the voters,” Jensen wrote. “Therefore, we cannot accept Proponents’ suggestion that excising the medical marijuana and hemp provisions from Amendment A in favor of retaining the provisions regulating and legalizing recreational marijuana is an appropriate remedy. Amendment A is void in its entirety.”

Noem, a possible 2024 Republican presidential candidate, celebrated the Supreme Court’s ruling.

“South Dakota is a place where the rule of law and our Constitution matter, and that’s what today’s decision is about,” she said at the time. “We do things right—and how we do things matters just as much as what we are doing. We are still governed by the rule of law.”

Initiated Measure 27 qualified for the South Dakota ballot in May, after the campaign behind it, South Dakotans for Better Marijuana Laws, turned in enough verified signatures to the secretary of state’s office.

The campaign has taken a populist approach, saying that the measure will “restore the will of the people by legalizing cannabis in South Dakota for a second time.”

But this week’s poll from SDSU wasn’t the first sign that 2022 could be much different than 2020.

A survey released in late August from the local news nonprofit South Dakota News Watch and the Chiesman Center for Democracy at the University of South Dakota found that 54% of voters in the state were against recreational cannabis legalization, while 44% said they are in favor.

With just a little over three weeks to go before Election Day, legalization advocates are now preparing to barnstorm South Dakota.

Matthew Schweich, the director for “South Dakotans for Better Marijuana Laws,” announced at a press conference on Wednesday that the campaign is kicking off an 18-city statewide tour this weekend. 

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A marijuana legalization initiative in South Dakota is in serious danger of going up in smoke this November, according to a new poll.

The survey, conducted by the pollster Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy on behalf of the local news nonprofit South Dakota News Watch and the Chiesman Center for Democracy at the University of South Dakota, found that a majority of Mount Rushmore State voters are opposed to the legalization of recreational cannabis. 

A little more than 54% of voters said they are against legalization, while just under 44% said they are in favor.

The polling data represents a potential source of concern for legalization activists in South Dakota, who have expressed confidence that the state’s voters will do what they did in 2020 and approve a recreational cannabis proposal at the ballot.

In 2020, 54 percent of South Dakota voters approved Amendment A, which would have legalized recreational cannabis in the state and laid the groundwork for a regulated weed industry.

But the amendment was subject to a legal challenge, led by Republican Gov. Kristi Noem, and was ultimately struck down by the state Supreme Court last November.

Organizers quickly went back in the field, ultimately getting a new legalization proposal on this year’s ballot. 

The new proposal, Initiated Measure 27, legalized possession of cannabis for adults in the state, but defers to the legislature on many of the regulatory details.

Matthew Schweich, the campaign director for South Dakotans for Better Marijuana Laws, said in May that the group collected more than 8,000 signatures above the qualification threshold to ensure that it would qualify.

“One of the main reasons why we maintained such ambitious goals for our signature drive was to ensure that we had a healthy margin, so we could deter our opponents from filing a lawsuit,” Schweich told the Argus Leader at the time. “This was the plan to have this buffer and be sure there would be no more lawsuits over cannabis initiatives in South Dakota.”

Following the release of the new poll last week, Schweich said he was confused more than anything.

“When I look a little deeper, I found things that do not make sense to me,” Schweich told local news station KELO. “Some of the numbers don’t really make sense and conflict strongly with previous data that we’ve seen.”

KELO reported that “Schweich pointed out that certain elements within the News Watch/USD poll do not jibe with past indicators of support for legalization in South Dakota.”

“I see this as a flawed poll, but one that I still need to keep in the back of my head as motivation to keep working hard,” Schweich told KELO. “I’m not going to dismiss this poll entirely, and it’s a reminder that we have to work really hard and not take anything for granted because in recent times, it’s gotten harder and harder to predict what an electorate will look like.”

A poll late last year found that a slim majority of South Dakota voters disapproved of Noem’s handling of cannabis legalization, while only 39% said they approved.

During a campaign stop earlier this month, Noem said that she will implement the new cannabis law if a majority of voters approve Initiated Measure 27 in November.

“From what I’ve seen, this amendment this year that will be on the ballot is written more appropriately towards the Constitution,” Noem said, as quoted by the Argus Leader.

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The South Dakota Secretary of State announced on Wednesday that a ballot measure to legalize cannabis for adults has received enough verified signatures to qualify for the November election, giving the state’s voters another chance to legalize recreational pot at the ballot box. Secretary of State Steve Barnett also announced that the proposal sponsored by the group South Dakotans for Better Marijuana Laws (SDBML) will be titled Initiated Measure 27 for this year’s general election.

The Secretary of State’s office reported that the SDBML campaign had collected a total 31,588 signatures. An analysis of a random sample of the signatures determined that approximately 79.2% were validated as coming from South Dakota registered voters. Based on the results of the random sample, 25,023 signatures were deemed valid by state officials, far more than the 16,961 signatures currently required to qualify a measure for the ballot.

“We are very pleased that we’ve qualified for the ballot and we are extremely thankful to everyone who signed our petitions, our volunteers, our staff and our supporters,” SDBML director Matthew Schweich told the Argus Leader. “We look forward to being on the ballot in November and we’re confident we can win again and restore the will of the people of [S]outh Dakota.”

Under the proposal, adults aged 21 and older would be permitted to possess and buy up to one ounce of weed and grow up to three cannabis plants at home. Public consumption, cultivation of more than three plants, and some other cannabis-related activities would still be against the law, but violators would only face civil penalties for such offenses.

Successful 2020 Ballot Measure Struck Down in South Dakota

A more comprehensive ballot measure, Amendment A, was approved by 54% of South Dakota voters in 2020. But after legal challenges supported by Republican Governor Kristi Noem, an opponent of recreational cannabis legalization, the ballot measure was ruled unconstitutional by the state Supreme Court.

Unlike Amendment A, Initiated Measure 27 does not attempt to establish a regulatory framework for commercial cannabis cultivation, manufacturing, and sales or levy a tax on the cannabis industry. Instead, this year’s ballot measure legalizes possession and purchases of cannabis and leaves the details up to state lawmakers. Activists hope that the more than 8,000 extra signatures collected will help dissuade opponents from filing new legal actions to stop legalization.

“One of the main reasons why we maintained such ambitious goals for our signature drive was to ensure that we had a healthy margin, so we could deter our opponents from filing a lawsuit,” Schweich said. “This was the plan to have this buffer and be sure there would be no more lawsuits over cannabis initiatives in South Dakota.”

But the effort to legalize recreational pot in South Dakota faces a new challenge from a proposal on the ballot for the primary election next month. Under Amendment C, future ballot measures would require 60% of the vote to pass if they enact a tax or require state appropriations of $10 million or more in any of the first five years of enactment. If Amendment C is passed by voters in the June primary election, it would go into effect before the November general election. The effect that would have on Initiated Measure 27 is unclear.

“We must defeat Amendment C on June 7,” Schweich said. “Amendment C is a shameful and cowardly attack on the constitutional ballot initiative rights of the people of South Dakota. This convoluted proposal, created by politicians in [the South Dakota capital of] Pierre, has the potential to cripple the initiative process and could even be used to undermine our 2022 cannabis legalization measure. We cannot allow politicians to get away with this.”

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