The legislative executive board is reviewing reports from various oversite committees including the one that monitors Medical Marijuana.
State Senator Erin Tobin is the Chair of the committee. She said there have been issues at each meeting that should be easy to fix.
“Such as testing weight for batches. If you know how to bale hay, you’re not going to weigh anything when its wet. And it cost money to test all of those batches. So, I hope that’s something that the department can figure out eventually because it could be detrimental to the program. We heard from facilities that the department has been inspecting repeatedly and returning for second and third inspections without providing reports to the dispensary. Which makes it really hard to change anything if you don’t know what’s in that report,” said Tobin.
Tobin said the high turnover rate of directors for the program have made progress complicated.
She said that there remains a danger with “analogs” or THC variants that have yet to be stopped being sold at vape shops.
“Some of these analogs like the THC-A or O. They activate within a vape by heating up or using a chemical process and then that is inhaled into the lung of a person. Which, we will see effects down the road, probably not for ten or twenty years. So, these are the things I would really want the legislature to pay attention to for public safety,” said Tobin.
Tobin said there are more than 13,000 South Dakotans who utilize the medical program with 68 dispensaries across the state.
The E-Board voted unanimously to accept the report.
