In the Sioux Falls Argus Leader, Lisa Kaczke reports in South Dakotans to vote on legalizing recreational marijuana on November ballot:
South Dakotans will decide whether to legalize recreational marijuana at the ballot box in November.
The South Dakota Secretary of State's Office announced on Monday that it has validated the initiated constitutional amendment, which will appear on the 2020 ballot as Constitutional Amendment A. The office deemed more than 36,000 petition signatures valid based on a random sample.
If passed, it would legalize marijuana and require the Legislature to pass laws regarding hemp, including laws to ensure access to marijuana for medical use, according to the Secretary of State's Office. . . .
Voters will also decide in November whether to legalize medical marijuana in Initiated Measure 26, which was validated by the Secretary of State's Office in December. The deadline to challenge that initiated measure is 5 p.m. CT Jan. 20.
South Dakota will be the first state to vote on both medical marijuana and recreational marijuana legalization on the same ballot, according to Matthew Schweich, deputy director at Marijuana Policy Project. . . .
That should leave the state legislature time to arm wrestle with the governor over legalizing growing industrial hemp. Earlier this month, Kaczke reported in S.D. lawmakers want to 'get it done with' in legalizing hemp. Do they have the votes?:
South Dakota legislators are ready to take another swing at legalizing industrial hemp.
The 2020 legislative session will begin with lawmakers introducing a bill legalizing industrial hemp that Gov. Kristi Noem has already declared she'll veto. The session begins on Jan. 14.
House Majority Leader Lee Qualm said they plan to move quickly to introduce the industrial hemp bill and get it moving through the votes. Qualm, R-Platte, and Sen. Josh Klumb, R-Mount Vernon, are expected to be the primary sponsors on the bill.
"I don't want it hanging around all through session. I want to get it in and get it done with," Qualm said.
South Dakota is one of three states that hasn't legalized industrial hemp. The 2018 Farm Bill federally legalized it. . . .
Some South Dakotans getting a head start
One tribe is flexing its sovereignty to grow industrial hemp on its own land. The paper's Jonathan Ellis reported in late December's Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe can now grow hemp, USDA says:
The Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe announced Friday that it has received clearance from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to begin growing industrial hemp.
The approval grants the tribe regulatory authority over hemp production within the tribe’s jurisdiction.
“USDA shares your enthusiasm for your domestic hemp production program, and we look forward to working with you,” wrote Sonia Jimenez, USDA’s deputy administrator for specialty crops.
The approval means that the tribe is the first in South Dakota with an authorized plan and one of the first tribes or states in the nation with an approved plan, according to USDA. The Oglala Sioux Tribe currently has a plan that is under review by USDA.
In its announcement, the tribe says that growing hemp will enable it to expand its agricultural activities.
“The tribe is confident that this plant is not only an incredible economic opportunity because of its vast product offerings, but is also native to this area, and beneficial to the environment,” the announcement says.
Minnesota's growing industrial hemp production is operating under 2014 rules, , Successful Farming reported Monday in USDA Approves State Hemp Production Plans:
The 2018 farm law legalized hemp farming and the USDA issued a rule last October 24 to assure consistency among states in the oversight of growers. In the final days of 2019, USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) approved production plans by three states — Louisiana, New Jersey, and Ohio — and plans by the Flandreau Santee Sioux, Santa Rosa Cahuilla, and La Jolla Band of Luiseno Indian tribes. . . .
Seventeen state plans were under review and eight states were drafting plans for submission, said AMS. In addition, four states — Maine, Minnesota, Missouri, and New Mexico — will operate under the 2014 farm law, which authorized pilot projects and hemp research. In Maryland, “Growers will use the USDA hemp program,” it said. Hemp is legal to grow in 46 states, according to the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture. The AMS said 11 tribal plans were under review, and five tribes were drafting plans. . . .
The approval of Flandreau's plan was foreshadowed by a September Kacske article South Dakota tribes plan to grow hemp, have 'big dreams' for potential revenue:
Some tribes in South Dakota are laying the groundwork for residents to begin growing hemp in the next year.
The 2018 Farm Bill allows tribes to implement their own hemp programs separate from the states. While Gov. Kristi Noem and the Legislature continue their stalemate over legalizing hemp, tribes in South Dakota have been moving quickly to adopt hemp ordinances, create committees to oversee their hemp programs and submit hemp plans to the U.S. Department of Agriculture for approval.
The Flandreau Santee Sioux and Oglala Sioux tribes have already submitted their hemp plans to the USDA. The Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux Tribe [SWO] grew a hemp crop on the North Dakota side of its reservation this year for the second consecutive year and held a "hemp field day" in September to provide hemp education. Dozens of tribes, including several in South Dakota, formed a coalition to collaborate on writing hemp ordinances and hemp plans to submit to the USDA for approval. . . .
Agriculture-based economies want a diversity of crops and hemp offers another option for farmers, said Heather Dawn Thompson, the attorney working with the coalition. Hemp is a hardy crop that grows well on the Northern Plains region, and it is a "healthy crop" that doesn't require a lot of maintenance or pesticides, which benefits the environment, she said.
While some standard crops in rotation in North Dakota--like sugar beets, potatoes and soybeans did poorly in this area given the extreme wetness of the season, SWO's hemp crop did very well:
The tribe's Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate Hemp Economic Feasibility Study Phase I Final Report, on the first crop grown in 2018, prepared by investigators at the University of Minnesota's Bell Museum and Department of Plant & Microbial Biology, is online here at the tribal newspaper site.
Given that the SWO's former chair is Dave Flute, under whom the North Dakota hemp crop was first planted, is South Dakota's Secretary of Tribal Relations, one would hope he could have talked some sense into Noem's reefer madness.
Meanwhile, in Watertown, one lawmaker is calling industrial hemp a "fake market":
Sen. Lee Schoenbeck, R-Watertown, continues to oppose legalizing industrial hemp since he voted against it last year. He expects the 2020 hemp bill process to be a repeat of the 2019 process.
"Every serious farmer that I've asked about this has laughed and said it's not a real crop," Schoenbeck said.
Schoenbeck said he doesn't have a problem with people being "foolish" with their own money, but he has a problem with marijuana legalization proponents promoting a "fake market" for hemp. . . .
Guess he didn't ask his neighbors on the Lake Traverse Reservation, who've actually grown the crop--though on the North Dakota side of the Oyate. Or his neighbors to the south at Flandreau. We think he should get out more.
Photo: Harvesting SWO's 2019 hemp crop in North Dakota, photo by Crystal Owen, via Facebook.
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