Ron Strider
Well-Known Member
It's not just "stoners" and "burnouts" backing medical and recreational marijuana in South Dakota.
As the campaign to get two marijuana-related measures on the ballot in 2018 continues, Mitchell's James McNaughton sees support for cannabis strengthening statewide. But after this week's Davison County Democrats marijuana-themed meeting, McNaughton acknowledged the measures are still a tough sell in his home county.
"I don't know about Davison particularly, but it is (rising) overall in the state," 35-year-old McNaughton said about the support for the two initiatives.
The two measures are backed by New Approach South Dakota, whose director – Melissa Mentele – attended the Democrats' meeting on Tuesday. One measure would make marijuana legal to cultivate and use in South Dakota, while the other would make it available for residents with debilitating health conditions.
And the latter is what led McNaughton to gain an appreciation for the impact of medicinal marijuana.
McNaughton said he watched his father die of cancer, coupled with complications caused by the morphine he was prescribed with to manage pain. It was that experience that sparked a passion in McNaughton to support medicinal marijuana.
"To me, it's actually surprising that it's still being fought," McNaughton said. "This seems like an argument that's no longer worth having, it seems like it just needs to be done."
Mentele said 44 states allow for medical marijuana, which caused a strong reaction from those in attendance, setting South Dakota apart from an overwhelming majority of the nation. But South Dakotans have indicated as recently as 2010 that they don't support medicinal marijuana.
In 2010, 63.31 percent of state voters stood in opposition to the plan, including 68.2 percent of the voters in Davison County.
The 2010 vote was followed by a failed attempt to get a medical marijuana measure on the ballot in 2016, as Secretary of State Shantel Krebs' office ruled the initiative didn't have the requisite 13,871 signatures needed.
But Mentele told a group of area Democrats she has a plan to avoid a similar situation in 2018.
"My plan is to bring in about 30,000 and just drop them on Krebs' desk and be like, 'Have fun counting,' " Mentele said.
This time around, New Approach is also aiming to get full legalization on the ballot. And McNaughton said he's come around on legalization, calling it a matter of freedom.
But Mentele is hoping a plan built into the recreational marijuana measure will earn it some support.
While meeting with about a dozen Davison County Democrats, Mentele highlighted a revenue distribution model included in the measure to use excise tax generated from cannabis sales to support a variety of area of state government.
The revenue distribution plan would provide 40 percent of excess revenues to the state Department of Education to assist in teacher recruitment and retention, 20 percent to state law enforcement agencies, 20 percent to the general fund, 10 percent for public health education and another 10 percent for prevention and treatment programs for drugs and alcohol.
And Mentele said the drug prevention aspect could have a tremendous impact.
"I'm not a Pollyanna, I do understand that people will abuse the program," Mentele said. "We have people that abuse Tylenol, we have people that abuse alcohol, I want to make sure that if this happens and there is a problem that we're able to address it immediately and not coming in on the back end trying to fix something."
If enough valid signatures are collected, the measures will be on the ballot in November 2018.
News Moderator: Ron Strider 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Marijuana measures remain a tough sell in Mitchell | The Daily Republic
Author: Evan Hendershot
Contact: Contact Us | The Daily Republic
Photo Credit: Evan Hendershot
Website: The Daily Republic
As the campaign to get two marijuana-related measures on the ballot in 2018 continues, Mitchell's James McNaughton sees support for cannabis strengthening statewide. But after this week's Davison County Democrats marijuana-themed meeting, McNaughton acknowledged the measures are still a tough sell in his home county.
"I don't know about Davison particularly, but it is (rising) overall in the state," 35-year-old McNaughton said about the support for the two initiatives.
The two measures are backed by New Approach South Dakota, whose director – Melissa Mentele – attended the Democrats' meeting on Tuesday. One measure would make marijuana legal to cultivate and use in South Dakota, while the other would make it available for residents with debilitating health conditions.
And the latter is what led McNaughton to gain an appreciation for the impact of medicinal marijuana.
McNaughton said he watched his father die of cancer, coupled with complications caused by the morphine he was prescribed with to manage pain. It was that experience that sparked a passion in McNaughton to support medicinal marijuana.
"To me, it's actually surprising that it's still being fought," McNaughton said. "This seems like an argument that's no longer worth having, it seems like it just needs to be done."
Mentele said 44 states allow for medical marijuana, which caused a strong reaction from those in attendance, setting South Dakota apart from an overwhelming majority of the nation. But South Dakotans have indicated as recently as 2010 that they don't support medicinal marijuana.
In 2010, 63.31 percent of state voters stood in opposition to the plan, including 68.2 percent of the voters in Davison County.
The 2010 vote was followed by a failed attempt to get a medical marijuana measure on the ballot in 2016, as Secretary of State Shantel Krebs' office ruled the initiative didn't have the requisite 13,871 signatures needed.
But Mentele told a group of area Democrats she has a plan to avoid a similar situation in 2018.
"My plan is to bring in about 30,000 and just drop them on Krebs' desk and be like, 'Have fun counting,' " Mentele said.
This time around, New Approach is also aiming to get full legalization on the ballot. And McNaughton said he's come around on legalization, calling it a matter of freedom.
But Mentele is hoping a plan built into the recreational marijuana measure will earn it some support.
While meeting with about a dozen Davison County Democrats, Mentele highlighted a revenue distribution model included in the measure to use excise tax generated from cannabis sales to support a variety of area of state government.
The revenue distribution plan would provide 40 percent of excess revenues to the state Department of Education to assist in teacher recruitment and retention, 20 percent to state law enforcement agencies, 20 percent to the general fund, 10 percent for public health education and another 10 percent for prevention and treatment programs for drugs and alcohol.
And Mentele said the drug prevention aspect could have a tremendous impact.
"I'm not a Pollyanna, I do understand that people will abuse the program," Mentele said. "We have people that abuse Tylenol, we have people that abuse alcohol, I want to make sure that if this happens and there is a problem that we're able to address it immediately and not coming in on the back end trying to fix something."
If enough valid signatures are collected, the measures will be on the ballot in November 2018.
News Moderator: Ron Strider 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Marijuana measures remain a tough sell in Mitchell | The Daily Republic
Author: Evan Hendershot
Contact: Contact Us | The Daily Republic
Photo Credit: Evan Hendershot
Website: The Daily Republic
