Legalization of a marijuana product that does not have psychoactive effects…heads to the South Dakota Senate floor.
The Senate Judiciary committee voted unanimously to reclassify cannabidiol, or CBD, and to legalize the fiber for medical use pending FDA approval.
Senate Bill 95 removes cannabidiol from the state’s definition of marijuana. CBD comes from the marijuana plant, but it doesn’t make the user high.
The sponsor, State Senator Blake Curd, says South Dakota is one of four states that does not allow C-B-D to treat pediatric epilepsy. He says opposition to CBD oil stems from its association with marijuana. Curd says CBD is a preferred alternative to opioids on the market…
“Both Hydrocodone and Oxycodone, which are rampantly abused in our country, traded illegally through the crime world, and in many cases, unfortunately, result in death due to cases of overdose and toxicity," Curd says. "It’s often been said that you’re more likely to drown in a vat of CBD oil, than you are from taking it in any form.”
Lawmakers killed a similar bill last year but now approve Senate Bill 95. However, they added an amendment to legalize CBD pending FDA approval.
But proponents say they can’t wait that long. George Hendrickson’s son has Dravet Syndrome, a kind of epilepsy that develops in infants.
“Tomorrow could be his last day. Tonight could be his last night. We don’t know when it’s going to happen," Hendrickson says. "September second, we didn’t know September third was going to turn out the way it did. We didn’t know that he was going to have to be resuscitated in the helicopter. We had no idea—you can’t see it coming. Waiting until 2018 takes all of my options away from me.”
THC is the psychoactive element of marijuana. This bill does not establish THC for medicine in South Dakota.