The South Dakota Supreme Court on Wednesday November 24th, upheld a lower court’s ruling that nullified a voter-passed amendment to the state constitution that would have legalized marijuana for recreational use.
The high court ruled the amendment to the state constitution violates the state’s single-subject rule, that only allows ballot measures to deal with one subject at a time, stating that the amendment involved at least three different subjects.
After the November 2020 vote where 54% of voters approved legalizing marijuana for recreational use, medical marijuana and hemp cultivation, Gov. Kristi Noem (R) issued an executive order directing South Dakota’s Pennington County Sheriff Kevin Thom and Highway Patrol Superintendent Col. Rick Miller to file a lawsuit challenging the measures.
Marijuana has become widely accepted around the United States, with a Gallup Poll last year showing 68% of Americans favored its legalization for recreational use . South Dakota was among four states in November 2020 to approve recreational marijuana, along with New Jersey, Arizona and Montana. Fifteen states and the District of Columbia have done so.
The state Supreme Court’s decision upheld a circuit judge’s ruling in February. Advocates for pot 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.
The campaign director for South Dakotans for Better Marijuana Laws, Matthew Schweich, called the ruling “extremely flawed” and reliant on “a disrespectful assumption that South Dakota voters were intellectually incapable of understanding the initiative.”
“The 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,” Schweich said in a statement.
Pot advocates are trying to bring recreational marijuana back to voters next year through a ballot measure that would instruct the Legislature to legalize it. Lawmakers are also considering legalizing pot for adults in the upcoming legislative session.
