We may have four 2016 ballot measures addressing South Dakota’s stance on marijuana. New Approach South Dakota is hustling for signatures on its medical cannabis initiative. Bob Newland and his friends are attacking our pot laws by petitioning to put alcohol and tobacco on the same legal footing as marijuana.
Now we have #4, a measure to decriminalize possession of an ounce or less of marijuana and marijuana paraphernalia. Decriminalize, not legalize—the distinction is important. Sponsors Ryan Gaddy, Jonathan Gilles, Christian Haider, and Dawn Van Ballegooyen of South Dakotans Against Prohibition aren’t seeking a free pass for pot smokers in this proposed initiative. Their proposal removes the criminal penalty for possession of an ounce or less of pot but leaves in place civil penalties of up to $100 and confiscation of the weed. Kids caught with pot still have to submit to drug awareness training (um, if they’ve got pot, they’re already aware of drugs) and ten hours of community service. Growing and selling marijuana remain crimes.
The big change this initiative offers is protecting pot users from penalties like losing student financial aid, public housing, unemployment benefits, driver’s license (though the initiative allows punishment for driving under the influence), or the ability to be a foster/adoptive parent.
The ounce-or-less initiative still contains a drafting error. Section 13 reads as follows:
SDCL 22-42-6. Possession of marijuana prohibited—Degrees according to amount; needs to be amended to include Class 1 misdemeanor to possess more than one counce but less than two ounces of marijuana. All other laws stand as is.
Come on, Gaddy, get it right. You can’t write a fragment into law. That text as is would not constitute a law. Be specific, and write it out:
Section 13: SDCL 22-42-6 shall be amended as follows: “Possession of marijuana prohibited–Degrees according to amount. No person may knowingly possess marijuana. It is a Class 1 misdemeanor to possess more than one ounce but two ounces of marijuana or less. It is a Class 6 felony to possess more than two ounces of marijuana but less than one-half pound of marijuana. It is a Class 5 felony to possess one-half pound but less than one pound of marijuana. It is a Class 4 felony to possess one to ten pounds of marijuana. It is a Class 3 felony to possess more than ten pounds of marijuana. A civil penalty may be imposed, in addition to any criminal penalty, upon a conviction of a violation of this section not to exceed ten thousand dollars.
One could also argue that Section 13 contradicts the rest of the initiative. “All other laws stand as is” (technically, as are) directs that only SDCL 22-42-6 be changed and that everything else the initiative would change stay the same. Write the Section 13 amendment properly, and you don’t need that awkward sentence.
Readers know that I’m a teetotaler on all fronts. I’d rather see Bob Newland’s prohibition measures pass than marijuana become easier to smoke. However, Gaddy and friends are still leaving penalties in place for pot use. They even continue to wag their finger at kids and say, “Don’t smoke pot!” The initiative the practical intent of this initiative appears to be (1) to decrease the penalty and disruption on users’ lives (though you can always avoid any disruption in your life by not smoking pot) and (2) to decrease the strain placed on our criminal justice system by non-violent offenses (although leaving the felony punishments for possession of more than two ounces suggests that change won’t be much).
Gaddy and friends are hosting a press conference this morning to discuss their initiative. I look forward to hearing their arguments as to why decriminalizing possession of an ounce of marijuan is beneficial and necessary public policy.
This might be the single cause that will get young people to the polls. Good on these folks.
They should be circulating a petition to get the Libertarian Party recognized again.
Rohr, I believe a Lib reorg petition is in the works, if not already going. Check with Ken Santema!
Larry, If it gets them to the polls, will it keep them coming? Will it get them to engage on other issues of greater import? Will they give any candidate or party an appreciable electoral advantage—i.e., will they bring me two votes for every one vote I will lose to the mindless GOP shouting of “Pothead! Pothead!”?
Cory, the new SDDP exec has exactly zero to lose by backing this initiative. The more the SDGOP machine tries to shout it down the more young people it will energize.
My plan has to be hammered out in committee not be voted in by initiative only to have the legislature beat the hell out of it later.
Gaddy’s plan is a very ambitious interim compromise.
Does Gaddy’s plan motivate the smoker in the street? Typical dude says, “What?! I still pay a hundred-dollar fine and lose my weed?” Does that compromise outcome make typical dude want to volunteer time, energy, and money?
The SDDP exec shouldn’t be looking for measures that offer zero to lose. I contend we do lose: make pit a banner issue for the party, and we burn the bridge we might build with voters on bigger issues. The SDDP exec needs and I need to see net gain, new voters and new volunteers who outnumber the losses that being branded the pot party will cause.
Why not play it this way: let Gaddy synergize with the Libertarians. Let the circulators do double duty with the marijuana petitions and the Libertarian reorganization petitions. Let the Libertarian Party then respond by offering mostly conservative candidates who will cut into Thune’s and Jackley’s GOP turnout.
Baseball aside, whom does this ballot measure help? Users still get a fine and lose their baggie. Kids caught toking up still get punished. The majority not smoking pot see no change in their daily lives. The state benefits only if this measure represents a significant decrease in law enforcement and incarceration costs. How much money does the latter point save us?
Yes to you first paragraph. I resent being called a user. How much it saves in costs of interdiction is proportionate to how much the state wouldn’t get from the feds to suckle a moocher state.
Any more sanctimonious or priggish questions, Cory?
The Democratic Party could write a smarter initiative if it had any balls.
Hey, I’m a blog user. Don’t get tangled up in one word. Answer the questions. Better yet, show me the groundswell and how it translates into real party gains. Are Dems resurging in Colorado on the back of legal pot?
“16. Support!the!intent!of!the!voters!in!passing!Amendment!64,!the!Initiative!to!regulate!Marijuana!Like!Alcohol.”
http://www.coloradodems.org/sites/coloradodems/files/FINAL%202014%20CDP%20Platform%20_0.pdf
On therapeutic cannabis:
http://blogs.denverpost.com/thespot/2015/04/14/senate-gives-initial-approval-on-bill-to-regulate-marijuana-caregivers/118924/
This is as close as SDDP got at convention:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uABrPRcHlAs/U7GLh3jj9MI/AAAAAAAAEjA/otNBs-dnRhs/s1600/DSC_0005.JPG
My youthful experience has been that this is what police did the majority of time anyway. They find a little weed, they dump it, flush it (maybe even smoke it ), tell you to shape up, scare the hell out of you and send you on your way – as long as you aren’t a jerk and the law enforcement is in an ok mood, this is what happens. You get caught again and they tell your parents etc etc. On the flip side, if your a jerk, and the LEO is a little cranky, you might get nailed with a felony, or get a possession by ingestion charge (Yep, because it’s in your system, they can get you for possession).
Feeling Blue, statistically, how police act toward someone with marijuana depends on the race of the defendant. That is shown by comparing the percentages of white people who use marijuana to the percentages of minorities who use marijuana, and then balance that against the percentages of white folks arrested for marijuana offenses with the percentages of minorities arrested for such offenses. Here are two stories that help reveal this discrepancy:
http://www.businessinsider.com/blacks-smoke-marijuana-less-get-arrested-less-2010-10
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/04/us/marijuana-arrests-four-times-as-likely-for-blacks.html
Before I attempt to answer your query here’s a fact from CO. concerning medical marijuana. No one with an MMJ card can get food stamps, Section 8 housing, TANF, SSI or any federal assistance. The federal computers cross reference to the medical marijuana cardholder computers and the denial of benefits is real.
Decriminalizing possession of an ounce of marijuana is beneficial and necessary public policy because it’s a benign way of ending draconian laws that account for the incarceration of hundreds of thousands of American citizens over the last fifty years and millions of South Dakota tax dollars spent by government on a flawed War on Drugs resulting in ruined lives and careers. – Nicholas Thimmesch II (media and comm consultant)
Mr. Heidelberger, You ask if Dems are surging on the back of legal weed in CO. (i.e. As a backstory, more Republicans voted to legalize than Dems or Unaffiliated. The three groups are of nearly equal number with a slight advantage to registered Repubs). It’s a truly bipartisan issue. The latest polls have legal weed as 60 plus percent favorable, crossing party lines,again. Last November a TeaParty Republican was leading in the polls (late) for Governor until he gave the wrong answer about what he’d do about pot, if elected. “I’d do everything in my power to end the experiment.” Bob Beauprez expounded. Immediate drop in support and a loss at the polls leaving the GOP state party leaders puzzled. Surely CO conservatives wouldn’t vote against their guy over such a liberal issue. Sorry Repubs, but that’s exactly what happened.
~Concluding, decriminalization isn’t really about smoking pot. It’s about whether those who choose to do so (in CO 17% of those polled recently have smoked it in the year and a half since legalization) should be arrested for a victimless crime. PS … Your highway patrol won’t have to spend overtime hours sitting at the border waiting for the myriad of South Dakota cars seen continually at CO legal dope stores. (that one’s just a bit of humor for the stoners reading this) lol
Porter, what is the rationale for this:
“No one with an MMJ card can get food stamps, Section 8 housing, TANF, SSI or any federal assistance.”
Is it because weed is still illegal on a federal basis? Who is responsible for the medical marijuana cross referencing? Is that part a federal or state thing? It seems cruel and punitive to me. I haven’t heard anything about that in MN.
Cannabis Church of South Dakota?
@Deb It’s without a doubt cruel and heartless and it’s because it’s still illegal at the Federal level. Not sure if the feds pursued the MMJ records or the state turned them over in a gesture of partnership when the feds involvement was still in question. In CO every facet of cannabis is fully transparent. There’s even a special section and editor in the Denver Post for pot news and they dig deep to fill line inches, daily. *The latest …. a poll today showed over 60% favor allowing special clubs and bars to allow smoking. It’s the latest petition on the street and will be on the ballot in Nov. The reasoning is that even though pot is legal there are many people who can’t smoke it at home because of children around or even a live-in mother in law. They need a place to go for a hit or two as do the tourists. PotTourism is becoming a big business and anything we can do to make their vacation enjoyable is in the state’s interest. :)
My problem, if anyone cares, about these kinds of things is when the resulting costs become a burden on the rest of society. So somebody gets doped up and causes a car accident resulting in insurance claims and we all end up paying the bill, indirectly. This also applies to motorcycle accidents when helmets could prevent injuries that the health insurance system pays. Or drunken driving, etc….
SS, what a pile of crap.
Driving without proof of insurance in Bill Janklow’s police state is a jailable offense.
I feel like a pile when the dopers and boozers violate societal standards for the detriment of all. Having said that, if medical marijuana can alieve pain that could be a good thing. Let’s see how that works in Minnesota.
South Dakota violates societal standards every day with reckless abandon to the detriment of all.
I agree with SuperSweet that individuals create social burdens by abandoning their senses and escaping into drugs and alcohol. I regret that many of my fellow citizens are so committed to getting high or drunk that even the 18th Amendment couldn’t stop them.
That said, does the proposed initiative do anything to reduce that social burden? Would decriminalization change the number of pot users, the amount of pot used, and the burdens that arise from that use?
As Feeling Blue notes, decriminalization as proposed by Gaddy et al. doesn’t seem to change what law enforcement does much. And as Porter notes, without a change in federal law, users still face the loss of federal benefits.
What are we trying to achieve with this initiative, and why are some people working so hard to achieve it?
Wild Bill has been out of the Governors office for 12 years. It is time to move on. BTW what great accomplishments have any of his successors made?
Individuals create social burdens by making the Big Sioux River incapable of supporting life. Individuals create social burdens by denying Medicaid expansion. Individuals create social burdens by defrauding South Dakota of $120 million. Individuals create social burdens by denying civil rights to women and couples of the same gender….
The cannabis battle in South Dakota is at least 40 years old. This is our time.
Cory, you were what, eight years old in 1974 when Bill Janklow was booed off the dais in Volstorff Ballroom at an event sponsored by the Vet’s Club at SDSU?
Eight in 1974? You’re thinking of Stace Nelson.
I was at SDSU in ’71, having just returned from Vietnam and witnessing the effects of marijuana and other drugs on the troops. That is where a lot of our drug problems started. Recreational use turned to addiction, which has led to my conservative views on the matter.
You see, I been to the desert on a troll with no name….
I smell tens of, if not hundreds of thousands, in tax revenue. That is the example from Colorado, Oregon, Washington, etc.
The republicans ought to be giddy as they were with gaming – someone else to pay taxes for them.
Recall that Portugal decriminalized drugs about 20 years ago. Addiction dropped. Crime dropped. There is no excuse, other than an uneducated one, to not support decriminilization.
“Patrick Kennedy: Legalizing pot endangers children” This article is dead on!
http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2014/07/28/patrick-kennedy-marijuana-brain/13292245/
Check out Argus and Kelo commenter postings. See a Brian Kelly posting on well crafted and recycled pro-pot postings? Every state that has had anything to do with a ballot initiative regarding any type of pot legalization. He is posting and has been called numerous times out as a paid pro-pot social media marketing poster paid by the “Big Marijuana profiteer industry.” He is just one of many out of state posters that are more than likely paid by the industry. Hey! It’s great marketing!
Join me in calling for a special session to adopt my cannabis plan for South Dakota.
If the South Dakota Democratic Party is so gutless as to embrace legal cannabis enlist South Dakota Progress to lead.
“Patrick Kennedy: Legalizing pot endangers children” This article is dead on!
http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2014/07/28/patrick-kennedy-marijuana-brain/13292245/
Check out Argus and Kelo commenter postings. See a Brian Kelly posting on well crafted and recycled pro-pot postings? Every state that has had anything to do with a ballot initiative regarding any type of pot legalization. He is posting and has been called numerous times out as a paid pro-pot social media marketing poster paid by the “Big Marijuana profiteer industry.” He is just one of many out of state posters that are more than likely paid by the industry. Hey! It’s great marketing!
Larry, I don’t have to be gutless to refuse to embrace marijuana as a top-tier campaign issue. By your logic, if there are thousands of young South Dakota voters ready to abandon me and my party for not taking up what they view to be the most important issue in the world, then it would seem to take more guts to look those kids in the eye and say, “No, really, teacher pay, road repair, voter rights, initiative and referendum, minimum wage, redistricting, tax reform, government openness, water quality, Keystone XL, uranium mining, and marriage equality are all more important than smoking pot, and here’s why.”
Good luck with that, Cory. It’s impossible for you to remember the Vietnam War and its ability to mobilize an entire generation: that’s what cannabis means to millennials.
If cannabis means the same to millennials what Vietnam meant to the hippie generation, the millennials need a serious attitude adjustment. I hope millennials are better than you suggest.
Cory, you’re convinced you can’t get elected to anything while supporting legal cannabis, right?
Millennials political priorities:
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/05/everything-you-need-to-know-about-millennials-political-views/371053/
Thanks, Bill, a year old survey can be a significant tell. Note that at the time of that article 70% of that segment are not registered to vote.
Most young registered members of the other party support legal cannabis:
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/02/27/63-of-republican-millennials-favor-marijuana-legalization/
“Pot problems in Colorado schools increase with legalization” Are we really surprised?
http://www.eptrail.com/ci_24501596/pot-problems-colorado-schools-increase-legalization
Notice when anything is posted threatening to Larry and a few other’s pot obsession they quickly post anything to make sure it disappears? lol
Are your political priorities different today than they were a year ago Kurtz?
Not so much, Bill. Getting to that age when my legacy is becoming more important to me and making sure my opus is finished before i croak is reaching critical mass. You?
“Pot problems in Colorado schools increase with legalization” Anyone surprised? Remember it’s harmless and good for us! lol
http://www.eptrail.com/ci_24501596/pot-problems-colorado-schools-increase-legalization
Lynn, your link supplies no hard numbers, but just the impression of what people against the law want to think. People employed to be against it. We’ve created and funded law enforcement agencies to fight something, so of course they’re gonna stick to their cause. Their work and purpose is in jeopardy. On this topic Lynn is just as obsessed and unbalanced as Larry. Neither position really serves a purpose other than to reflect your emotions on the issue.
“Study Links Marijuana Use to Testicular Cancer” American Cancer Society
http://www.cancer.org/cancer/news/study-links-marijuana-use-to-testicular-cancer
Happy the source is in the article.
Yes it is always the Police Unions, Big Pharma and Prison Industrial complex lol Just like those pushing legalization are the legalized drug dealers that are cash rich besides the addicts and heavy recreational users.
Whatever perceived evils surrounding cannabis already exist and rewarding a black market is neither conservative nor sustainable.
There were no numbers there Lynn. You’re grasping at straws. Means nothing. I’ve read just as many articles that say there’s been no change in Colorado. Cory and Super Sweet have their reasons for thinking the way they do. Too black and white from my perspective. Drugs were rampant in the 60s, Vietnam era, and post-Vietnam and in the military before they started heavy drug testing. But Cory uses the word User like marijuana is a hard drug. It’s just not. My sister exercises too much to the point she avoids major responsibilities. It’s her drug. Anything can be abused. There’s a word called moderation: it’s just not well liked around here. Black/white. No! Gray. Deal with some gray. Teetotalers versus potheads. Ridiculous.
Detox Network Sees Pot DUIs Spike in Colorado After Legalization
http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/legal-pot/detox-network-sees-pot-duis-spike-colorado-after-legalization-n141231
” My problem, if anyone cares, about these kinds of things is when the resulting costs become a burden on the rest of society.”
SuperSweet, I dont know where you’ve been but the war on drugs hasnt been money maker for this country. All you need to do is spend a couple of minutes looking at the drug war clock to get a realtime understanding of how much money has been wasted on this boondoggle. You can see that clock on Interested Partys web site, or here. http://www.drugsense.org/cms/wodclock
” How much does a medical marijuana card cost?
– $150 for State fee, annually ($75 if on SNAP/Food Stamps)
– Approximately $100-$150 for doctor appointment, annually” http://azmarijuana.com/arizona-medical-marijuana-news/tips-arizona-medical-marijuana-card/
That is in Arizona so at least there you can be on SNAP and not have it taken away. Unless of course, it could be like SD was at one time. You could get busted for selling pot without a license, but if you tried to get one of those licenses you couldn’t. Thats SD.
” The SDDP exec shouldn’t be looking for measures that offer zero to lose. I contend we do lose: make pit a banner issue for the party, and we burn the bridge we might build with voters on bigger issues.”
Bigger issues, there is no bigger issue to those of us that can only get relief from cannabis! That is the problem with the reasonings of people that dont have a clue.
” Baseball aside, whom does this ballot measure help?”
Make no mistake, the only people that come out ahead will be those selling pot on the black market, other then that, nothing will change. There will be no change in the behavior of the cops or their dogs. You will still be treated like a criminal. You will still be subjected to searches because of open use. And the state will still not make any money.
” Larry, If it gets them to the polls, will it keep them coming?”
No
Will it get them to engage on other issues of greater import? Not much. Teachers pay, none. Most of the young people that just got out of an education dont give a damn about education, until they have kids in school. And then you have that GOP thing, you know, that party passed on from generation to generation. While pot crosses those lines other issues dont.
Medically speaking there is nothing of greater importance, but if your talking about decriminalized laws those that will continue to need pot will still be criminals.
Will they give any candidate or party an appreciable electoral advantage—i.e., will they bring me two votes for every one vote I will lose to the mindless GOP shouting of “Pothead! Pothead!”?
Not in SD at this time. You have to remember that while Colorado is split down the middle with donkeys and elaphents, the Great state of SD is as red as it can get. There is a reality check for ya.
” I was at SDSU in ’71, having just returned from Vietnam and witnessing the effects of marijuana and other drugs on the troops. That is where a lot of our drug problems started. Recreational use turned to addiction, which has led to my conservative views on the matter.”
SuperSweet, really 45 years and three generations later and your still talking about hippies and vets cohabiting in the 70s? And no, that was 30 some years after the problem started because of prohibition. Before that time doctors “used cannabis without worrying about addiction.”
Marijuana is used at the same rate by conservatives as it is by liberals. It doesn’t make any difference if your a man or a woman or a combination of the two. Race makes no difference, and money just makes it easier to get for the rich.
The problem in SD continues to be the non education of the public. Honestly, four cannabis related measures to vote on. And all the public knows is what they are reading in the two big toilet papers in the state and the over air outlets stores called tv and radio. Education doesn’t mean shoving a petition in someones face. Real education starts with two people who know, they in turn teach four others, and so on. Why isnt that happening? Why are these groups willing to take the chance on a petition, but dont want to do the real work of educating?
Like I’ve told you before. When the right people finally get into a position to make the right amount of money through legalization, legalization will happen. Just dont be surprised when its names you know that have worked so hard to keep pot illegal.
The Blindman
No, Larry, I’m not convinced that supporting pot makes it impossible to get elected. I am convinced that making marijuana a number-one, number-two, or number-ten issue will not meaningfully improve a candidate’s chances of getting elected.
The survey Fleming offers (good morning, Bill!) appears to support that belief: maybe they just didn’t ask about marijuana, but the poll reveals a whole lot of meatier issues with a lot more persuasive power. The fact that it is from 2014 does not impugn its relevance. The fact that 70% of that segment of voters aren’t registered reinforces my argument. I want them to get registered, but I’m not convinced that getting them registered with marijuana agitprop produces a lasting, reliable voter/volunteer corps.
Nate Silver’s 538 looks at 15 marijuana ballot measures from 1998 to 2012 and finds no significant impact on youth turnout. Obama’s loss of support in 2012 in Colorado, Oregon, and Washington, where he was on the ballot alongside pro-pot measures, was the same as in other states.
If I have only so many days and so many dollars to run for office, I don’t spend them on telling young people I want to make it easier for them to smoke pot. I spend them on messages that actually get people to donate, dial, and vote.
The South Dakota Democratic Party made a good decision in backing the two ballot measures I proposed. The South Dakota Democratic Party is making an equally good decision in leaving it to Gaddy and Mentele to circulate their own petitions for marijuana.
Conservative South Dakota is never gonna legalize pot. Cory is going for the youth vote by supporting the wage bill.
There’s a Heidelberger painting a house down the street a very nice mid-tone gray. Not black. Not white. Some of you peeps need to shoot for the middle some day. Smack dab in the middle to the real voting power. All these dark colors are gonna be very passe, and hard to cover!
” Detox Network Sees Pot DUIs Spike in Colorado After Legalization.”
Lets be clear about this Lynn, they were busted for DUI, and they had THC in their systems. The article said absolutely nothing about what else was in their systems at the time of their arrest. Since we know that long after you are high the test will come back positive, thats like saying finding an empty beer can in a car after a wreck means the accident was alcohol related. Since pot is legal in Colorado, dont you think there is going to residuals in the systems of a lot of people at any given time?
And you think pot smokers are paranoid?
The Blindman
Bill Those drivers were pulled over for a reason whether it be erratic behavior or whatever observed that could put others at risk.
btw! With those 20 year old lungs you have from years of smoking pot are you in France riding for one of the Tour de France teams? With all the miracles of pot who needs Rosetta Stone to learn to converse in fluent Flemish or French? Pot breaks down language barriers in no time. lol
” The rate of testicular cancer has been increasing for several decades, but experts are not sure why. The study, published online Sept. 10, 2012 in the American Cancer Society journal Cancer, speculates that environmental causes, including recreational drug use, may play a role.”
There those words are again. “May play a role.”
Thats code for I needs more money for research but I can’t explain in plain english why.
The Blindman
“Bill Those drivers were pulled over for a reason whether it be erratic behavior or whatever observed that could put others at risk.”
Yup and some of those drivers were no longer high on pot but had residue, remember not Thc that gets you high but residue. The study says nothing about the other things in these peoples systems at the time of arrest but we know from the wording in the article that there were.
I’m sure not saying these people weren’t driving erratically, they needed to be taken off the street. But you are throwing all the DWIs together and hoping that residual marijuana sticks to the wall your throwing it at.
Booo, I say booo! You need to improve your meditation techniques, or get laid, take your pick.
The Blindman
Red flag. 15 yard foul, Bill D. Telling female commentor to get laid. Bad form. :-(
Rosetta Stone is just good marketing. So as expected there’s lots of posturing on this issue. Cut the bull. The movie Lawless is on Netflix about prohibition days. Couldn’t even watch it because of the violence. Getting the criminal element out alone is worth it. That comedian Dave Attell was making jokes that marijuana is a vitamin in Baltimore. Get a perspective. He also said the worst thing about marijuana is someone might tell a long story and forget the ending. Pretty funny guy. Anyway, it’s not heroin, but does need regulation. It’s no magic pill but good for many things. High horses out here can’t see straight.
To me the question for this is will it have an impact on our jails? Minnehaha jails are overcrowded and many people in there are because they are simply awaiting trial. Cory asked the question of who this benefits. It appears that the benefits outweigh the costs for the state and those found guilty as a whole
This is an older study, but concludes that there would be little increase in use and benefits over the current system.
http://homes.chass.utoronto.ca/~haans/misc/mjdcrim.html
This shows that the state of Mass. could save over $29 million in law enforcement
http://scholar.harvard.edu/files/miron/files/decrim_update_2007.pdf
This is a detailed study that shows the possible consequences and benefits of decriminalization and finds the benefits seem to outweigh the potential harms.
http://www.jfa-associates.com/marijuana_study.pdf
I don’t know if I could support legalization of the drug, but I could get behind decriminalization of the drug.
How do you know that Lynn is a woman. It doesnt matter either way, when i read bull—t I wont call it a chocolate cookie.
The Blindman
“Get laid”. Really? That shows a desperate man wishing he could get laid.
What are the pot laws in Missouri where Bill D. lives, and the pot laws in New Mexico where Larry K. lives?
If the Gaddy initiative passes will Dithmer and Kurtz return to South Dakota to take advantage of them?
Cory, tribes are going to do this whether voters want it or not. Rand Paul believes it matters to his base, so does Grover Norquist who is working with Oregon’s Democratic delegation. Wyoming’s GOP governor wants a cannabis task force.
Anyone who is content to allow a black market to sap revenues from a lucrative industry is living in a cave.
Roger, South Dakota is tolerable in May, some of June and little at the end of September so don’t expect me to live there: that’s what RVs are for. Cannabis in New Mexico is largely off law enforcement radar and will be legalized after we throw out the Republican regressives.
Lynn is a woman, I have met here and respect her.
How do know for certain that Bill D. isn’t a woman?
Bill, I suspect Blindman may have a point.
In an earlier thread I attempted to engage Lynn in a rational discussion about medical marijuana and how it has been reported to help very sick children. As our conversation progressed, Lynn started reverting to the 1930-s type scare stories arguing, marijuana kills people, marijuana is addictive, it causes schizophrenia, it increases criminal activities, it causes alcohol induced DUI’s, it destroys the brains of young people, it doesn’t help sick people, everyone Lynn knew and worked with who used it was in misery, lazy and caused trouble, all advocates of medical marijuana are addicts who seek to trick voters so they can feed their addiction, etc, etc, etc.
With such arguments I began to doubt whether Lynn is a real individual, whether male or female. Rather Lynn’s comments suggested he or she is simply a tool of the anti-marijuana crowd throwing whatever bombs he or she can find to undermine proponent’s positions.
Meanwhile Blindman began with written comments that described his life changing experiences with medical marijuana in respectful and thoughtful comments. Lynn ignored Blindman’s real life experience and simply began throwing out more 1930’s style anti-marijuana propaganda. At this point, it seems that Lynn has become the anti-marijuana Sibby and is just trolling.
Troy is at Pat’s Place lecturing Fleming about how Republican numbers are growing apparently ignorant of my initiative that enables Democrats to monkey-wrench GOP primaries by registering in Jones’ earth hater party. Until the South Dakota Democratic Party pulls up her big girl panties, fills its county chairs and closes its primaries Fleming will remain flummoxed.
First for Roger.”If the Gaddy initiative passes will Dithmer and Kurtz return to South Dakota to take advantage of them?”
Nope, the only reason to return to SD would be to build another Carson House. Things would have to go a lot farther then they are now for that to happen. They would have to pay a fair return for electricty, completely legalize cannabis in all forms, and stop trying to legislate morality. They would need to stop padding statistics to get what they want, and they would have to make the financial institutions start paying for the same services they would have to pay for in any other state.
Not enough? Good because there is plenty of bitching out to go around. My old party, the donkies, is suffering from political constipation. The GOP is suffering from delusions of grandeur. And what the hell is going on with the libertarians?
I gave SD 61 years to get their shit together, and it never happened. I watched as other states moved ahead, not in inches but in miles. And I’ve seen nothing that would lead me to believe that they are going to start respecting the civil liberties of anybody they dont agree with.
I’m not into sexting, but I had Belinda check and there are still three hangy down parts there. Shes a mamma and somewhat of an expert in that area so I guess you’ll have to take her word for it.
By the way, there are many pictures of me on the net. All you need is my real name.
The Blindman
There are many reasons that people have left SD.
Blindman-don’t go to Wisconsin. They passed a wingnut budget that strips workers of their one guaranteed day off per week,decided big jobs don’t have to pay the prevailing wage and eliminated reference s to livable wages with minimum wages. Among other stuff. And the lawmakers appeared to have been intoxicated when they voted.
“Flummoxed” good word. How about “Flemmoxed”? Better?
Interesting Larry that you’re now claiming D’s registering as R’s to break the GOP juggernaut as your idea. Next thing you’ll be telling us you invented the internets. LOL
Per your other post showing that R’s are trending positive in their acceptance of marijuana for various purposes, that’s a good thing, don’t you think? Don’t screw it up, mon. :-)
If Newland were here he’d remind you that apostrophes denote possession not make nouns plural, Bill. The only Republican legislator with the cajones to bring my plan to committee just left the building. If Bernie Hunhoff wanted to save his party he’d call me. So far that hasn’t happened.
What’s your plan to get more South Dakota Democrats to give a s—, Fleming?
If Newland has time to remind people of how to use apostrophes on blogs, he has too much time on his hands. ;-) I’ve given up on the Democratic Party in South Dakota, Larry. It has become (at least for now) irrelevant and in my opinion counter-productive. Meanwhile, when in Rome… or maybe better:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HH3ruuml-R4
“Lar, tonight when you fall asleep in that chair of yours with the organic cotton fabric upholstery with a floral print, a joint smoldering on the rim of your mostly empty beer can and your shot glass tipped over dribbling its final dregs onto the coffee table, you will dream about the Great State of South Dakota, indeed.”
Grudznick
My agenda drives me and not the other ways around. It has nothing to do with South Dakota, cannabis or me: it’s about crushing the Republican Party and making America safe for democracy. ALEC already knows it happens at the grassroots.
I live in Paradise and wake up every morning with new energy to defeat the bastards when you people are areola-deep in a frozen wasteland.
Call me, Bernie.
Young people are especially susceptible to marijuana addiction. Research from treatment centers in the U.S. indicates that the earlier marijuana use is initiated, the higher the risk for drug abuse and dependence. In 2009, 12.6% of adults 18 and older who first tried marijuana at age 14 or younger were classified with illicit drug abuse or dependence compared to 2.1% of adults who had first used marijuana at age 18 or older. As noted, the early use of more potent marijuana may be driving the increase of admissions for treatment of marijuana abuse. In 2009, 86% of state-funded treatment admissions of individuals between ages 12 and 17 involved marijuana. Indeed, 70% of all treatment admissions involving children aged 12 to 14 and 72% of admissions of children age 15 to 17 years cited primary marijuana abuse. From 1992 to 2006, rates of admission for children and teens under age 18 for marijuana as the primary substance of abuse increased by 188% while other drugs remained steady. Data in the U.S. is corroborated with data from other countries. In the European Union, the percentage of individuals seeking treatment for primary marijuana use increased by 200% from 1999 to 2006 and currently stands at around 30% of all admissions.
White Paper on State-Level Proposals to Legalize Marijuana – ASAM American Society of Addiction Medicine July 25, 2012 http://www.oscdoc.com/
The last time I looked, there was only one way to grow a party. In SDDPs case it would be to steal moderate GOPers from that party.
There is just one little problem with that. I’m sure this wont come up in any statistics that can be found, but there are a significant number of people that have lived like a demacrate all of their lives, but have never voted anything but a straight GOP ticket.
If the SDDp can find a way to suduce these people they might make a run at the elaphents.
Everyone that thinks that is gonna happen raise your hand.
The Blindman
Whatever perceived evils surrounding cannabis already exist and continuing to reward a black market is neither conservative nor sustainable.
“Dumpster Diving for Weed” Black Market is alive and well in Colorado
http://www.vocativ.com/video/underworld/drugs/dumpster-love-weed/
Unrestrained capitalism has killed millions during the war on drugs with zero results: self-reliance or moral hazard?
Take the often used War on drugs expense clock and multiply X10 for social costs after legalization.
Pull numbers out of your rectum and distribute them to fellow inmates at your own peril.
“Only On 2: Investigation Reveals Medical Marijuana Is Getting Into School Kids’ Hands”
only-on-2-investigation-reveals-medical-marijuana-is-getting-into-school-kids-hands
http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2015/02/25/only-on-2-investigation-reveals-medical-marijuana-is-getting-into-school-kids-hands/
^^^^^
Take the often used War on drugs expense clock and multiply X10 for social costs after legalization.”
Ok I’ll bite one more time. Where did that come from.
The Continually Amazed Blindman
Why Is Adolescent Marijuana Use Higher in States that Legalize Medical Marijuana than in States That Don’t?
http://us2.campaign-archive1.com/?u=2138d91b74dd79cbf58e302bf&id=0119019f69
Do you suppose the little rascals might have gotten it illegality? My goodness that would have never happened before legalization.
The now more amused then amazed Blindman
“With so little scientific evidence that medical marijuana does what it is purported to do, it may be time to retire the medical model — at least in states like Colorado where marijuana can be legally purchased by any adult”
Moment of truth for medical marijuana By The Denver Post Editorial Board
Posted: 06/28/2015 05:00:00
http://www.denverpost.com/marijuana/ci_28390412/moment-truth-medical-marijuana?source=infinite
It’s important to remember that adolescent cannabis use does not diminish the capacity to be President of the United States.
Whatever perceived evils surrounding cannabis already exist and continuing to reward a black market is neither conservative nor sustainable.
I have a plan for South Dakota and will plow the road for any activist with the initiative to run the marathon.
Larry so now your advocating legalizing marijuana for all ages now? Joints for little Susie and Johnny?
for little kristi and johnny and tike mike, too.
” The June 17th issue of The Marijuana Report summarized a new study, published by Lancet, that finds marijuana use does not increase among high school students when a state legalizes medical marijuana. Researchers analyzed data from the Monitoring the Future Survey about past-month marijuana use among 8th, 10th, and 12th grade students between 1991 and 2014.
Although use does not increase after legalization, a key finding of the study—ignored by most of the press—is that use was already higher in states before such laws were passed than in states that have never legalized medical marijuana. The question is why? What is different about these states from states that haven’t legalized medical pot?”
Wow Lynn thanks for that great link.
I love it when the loop closes, when an unsubstantiated fact turns into smoke, and when someone gives me a great link that servs my cause.
The Blindman
There are other links to the study. Try harder. lol :)
Oh Lynn, no one is advocating marijuana for children. You’re citing oddball websites. The conversation in Denver has created much more acceptance. A recent survey showed in a 4-to-1 margin, Denver voters cite alcohol over marijuana as a bigger source of problems in the city, and they’ve been living with it now. Other links off the Denver Post show how to make brownies and that the majority would like to expand openness of its use. This is Focus on the Family state Colorado once boycotted by gays, but they have different attitudes and see it as mainstream. http://www.thecannabist.co/2015/07/09/denver-marijuana-public-opinion/37752/?_ga=1.98998040.729220180.1436567797
“Safe pot? Tell that to the 62 kids who died” “My Turn: More youth deaths are linked to marijuana than alcohol or methamphetamine” AZ Central 2:29 p.m. MST June 15, 2015
http://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/2015/06/15/safe-pot-tell-kids-died/71267330/
PP’s litter of preseverants are suffering from a wide panel of ailments: how is his plight any different from those who have been restricted from access to widely accepted therapies?
Happy, Larry just stated above he is for all ages legalization including little Susie, Johnny, Kristi and tike Mike too.
Kids are the most vulnerable to decriminalizing/legalization by the messages we send and access which will only increase as a result of the two.
Autism afflicts some of Pat’s kids and cannabis is an effective therapy: think he isn’t poking down that alley?
More Child Deaths from Marijuana, than Methamphetamine, Cocaine, Opiates, or Firearms in Arizona
Arizona Child Fatality Review Program http://www.azdhs.gov/phs/owch/pdf/cfr/20th-annual-child-fatality-review-report-nov-2013.pdf
“Of the 79 “carefully” selected studies assessed only two concerned actual marijuana itself; the others involved marijuana-based medications such as Marinol (synthetic THC in capsules) and Sativex (an oral spray containing cannabis extract).”
“Reducing cannabis to just THC (Marinol), minimizes efficacy and greatly increases side effects.”
“THC is actually a single molecule — and THC alone is horrible. That’s what Marinol is, and that’s why no one wants to take it. It makes you very uncomfortable and it doesn’t get you high in the sense that it gives people relief. It gets you stressed, which is why Marinol isn’t used by anyone with an alternative — plus, it costs something like $1,500 a month.”
—Dr. Robert Melamede, Professor of Biology at the University of Colorado,
From that same paper.
The Blindman
TGIF although it doesnt make a difference to me, and .08+1
He’s just rattling your chain. If he isn’t, then you’ll have to learn to ignore the unreasonable noises that always come from Larry. That is an opinion piece Lynn and the 62 deaths are not cited. We can all just make stuff up.
Happy’s just rattling your chain. If he isn’t, then you’ll have to learn to ignore the unreasonable noises that always come from some camper. That is an opinion piece Lynn and the 62 deaths are not cited. We can all just make stuff up.
Happy, Yeah I know it’s just Larry and he is very entertaining at times. lol
end of quote….
next?
Happy: me, a moderate down the middle? Gray instead of black and white? How on earth did that happen?
Note that I won’t stand in the way of young voters who want to prove me wrong and mobilize a mass youth movement around pot initiatives. If they can get the votes to get their way, more power to them. I’m pleased to see folks getting involved in the process.
But if all the pot voters do is show up to legalize marijuana, then retreat to their hookahs and somnambulance, I’m going to be very disappointed. I want marijuana initiatives to be the gateway drug to full-fledged political activism on more important issues.
See, Hap? I’m not a moderate; I’m a dealer. ;-)
“Pot legalization “not worth it” says Colorado’s new attorney general”
Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman told fellow AGs at a meeting of the National Association of Attorneys General that the $76 million the state collected in legal marijuana taxes and fees in 2014 isn’t “worth it.” Don’t buy the argument that regulation will eliminate crime, she warned. “The criminals are still selling on the black market. We have plenty of cartel activity in Colorado and plenty of illegal action that has not decreased at all,” she said, according to US News. Even some licensed marijuana growers are exceeding allowable limits and selling the drug in a gray market, she added. Despite her misgivings, she says, as state attorney general, she will defend the legalization law in response to lawsuits
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/02/23/colorados-new-attorney-general-pot-legalization-not-worth-it
A Republican attorney general with a bent: what a shocker.
“School drug incidents raise questions on Colo. pot policy” Colorado school officials report the highest level of middle-school student drug incidents in a decade, blame rise on state’s pot policy
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/02/18/colo-middle-school-drugs-marijuana-violations/23620235/
Gannett a reputable source for news? GMAFB.
Wasn’t Colorado supposed to be Potopia or Cannatopia with no problems or issues after legalization? Sure doesn’t look like it. Plenty of social costs.
I second Fleming’s flag on Dithmer’s imputing to another commenter the need for a roll in the hay. Let’s all ease up on our barnyard behavior.
I cannot second Fleming’s assertion that the Democratic Party has become not just irrelevant but counter-productive. Lay it out for me, Bill: the Dems may not be achieving much, but are they actually setting back the cause of progress? Can you point to specific actions the SDDP is taking that strengthen the Republican Party (or whatever else is “counter” to what Democrats ought to be “producing”)?
The perceived costs of cannabis already exist and sustaining a black market serves no one but the lawless.
From deep down in that study Lynn.
856 kids died in ways that Arizona thought could have been prevented. Of that number 26 kids were using substances and died. The report never claims that marijuana and marijuana alone caused a single death. Not one damn time.
If it wasnt for Lynn, you people up there in SD wouldnt have anything to laugh about.
The Blindman
Bill did you read all of it? Are you sure?
Thats fine with me Cory, just remember what you have just said in the future when someone talks crap about one of the rest of us.
Ya I dont have any problem with that
Your humbled poster The Blindman
Larry, I share your goal of saving democracy. I want crush ALEC and give the GOP a serious beating. I just don’t see pot advocacy as a crucial step toward that goal. Even if it has some utility, I don’t want to do that job. I have enough other crucial issues about which I (a) am usefully knowledgeable and (b) give a darn that I chose to leave marijuana on the shelf. Go back to my list:
…and even then, I might still need to mow the lawn, paint the house, and help my daughter with her application to Harvard before I feel like lifting a finger to help legalize pot.
I just don’t give as much a hoot about pot as many of the discussants here. It’s nothing personal; I just think all I really need to say on the issue is, “Don’t smoke dope.” If certain activists want to try to have a longer discussion with the electorate about the merits of marijuana, I leave that burden for them to lift.
seriously, cory: s— is subject to the censor?
Nope, just scanned, I can only stand so much of that. I believe I got to page34.
The Blindman
Thanks for finally coming out of the closet Cory.
None, I repeat none, not a single one of those things you listed mean a damn, oh shucks a darn thing to someone in pain.
The Blindman
“Marijuana the Truth” Great video which is light hearted but serious at the same time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dv4x2pRMamE&feature=youtu.be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OptLgGtZ9_E
(Seriously, Larry. Save it for when you really need it.)
Bill D, this post and the Gaddy initiative aren’t about medical marijuana.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JN4v-tXgxTs
Cory touched on a few real issues that concern everyday South Dakotans. Families and single parents are living paycheck to paycheck lucky to have a job that has decent benefits and good health insurance coverage.
This state has so many issues that have been purposely distracted from such as the annual Religious right laws, further attempts to restrict the rights of LGBT and of course those darn trouble causing transgenders. We need everyone we can possible get to have that spark to fight for change yet there are those who want to legalize another addictive mind altering substance.
Think about it. Does the amount South Dakotans spend on the lottery or gaming surprise anyone? It was no surprise to me. Now think about the type of future employers Cory pointed out that our GOED is recruiting to South Dakota. Cheap right to work labor providing little resistance. Low wages, Good benefits being rare, lack of investment in our public education, low voter turnout and a nonexistent competitive political system.
Rather than fight many South Dakotans will just accept their lot in life, escape thru gambling, alcohol, marijuana and other drugs, video games and play the lottery for that remote hope they will win. Then we have title loans, pawn shops and payday loan joints for those further enslaved. That’s depressing but a very docile population for those few in the state that profit off the majority.
Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus
Dominus Deus Sabaoth.
Pleni sunt cæli et terra gloria tua.
Hosanna in excelsis.
Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini.
Hosanna in excelsis.
Also from Lynn’s article: School districts don’t specifically report which kinds of drugs kids get caught with — the data lumps together prescription drugs, heroin, cocaine and marijuana. But school-based experts say they believe the 24% increase in middle school drug reports is directly related to the legal marijuana industry, and now lawmakers are asking school districts to do a better job tracking which drugs they’re finding.
In other words they really don’t know. More opinion.
Santa Claus
Sani-Flush
Drano.
As far as Cynthia Coffman goes, she went on to say those are her personal beliefs. In my opinion an attorney general just like a county clerk should do their job and leave their opinions at home. She didn’t make the law.
Of couse I know that Cory. I only went along for the ride, I never wanted to drive the van.
The Blindman
So rather than be sober, alert and fired up to fight for positive change here in SD we have some that want to provide another way for our citizens to numb, dumb down and just accept the way things are. There is a huge amount of money driving legalization nationally and those profiteers could care less about how legalization affects kids nor the wide range of issues facing South Dakota. It will be just another gold mine of a market for them just like video lottery was when it was legalized.
Looks like Coffman is a piece of work and if you generally consider yourself a progressive might not want to jump in to bed with: The drama began last week when House said he met with Republican Attorney General Cynthia Coffman, along with U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo and Becky Mizel, chairwoman of the Pueblo County Republican Party – both well-known conservatives. The allegation is that the group wanted House to step down for not hiring former state Sen. Ted Harvey as executive director. Harvey leans hard right. Some in the party feel that House has not leaned enough to the right, and that not hiring Harvey is an example.
Reports surfaced that House was set to resign but then backtracked, saying he had been “bullied” into the original offer to step down. Coffman allegedly asked House to resign.
She’s being called a blackmailer. Tancredo? Nuff said: http://www.durangoherald.com/article/20150623/NEWS01/150629854/GOP-infighting-continues–
adios amigos! :)
Oh Lynn, South Dakota’s problems are cultural. They want robots to do as they’re told. Education and creativity are stifled, but it has nothing to do with a little bit of pot smoking. South Dakota is not gonna change. Well, slowly. But as Dithmer said, not fast enough. The world is a rapidly changing place. Some of your values are not keeping up.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
CO is wide open on pot. It’s rarely even discussed now that it’s common. How many smoke it? 17% ….. Try to keep things in perspective in your state where pain pill addiction is rampant and could well be over 50% of females.
Washington state is suffering the effects of 65 million in tax receipts income from the sales of marijuana. This is year to date, the poor things. A fraction of that in South Dakota, say half, would mend a lot of salaries for teachers and fix a lot of falling down infrastructure. http://lcb.wa.gov/marijuana/dashboard
I’ll fix your flat tire Lynn
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yhpq2oDPT9w
Banned from the airwaves, like Two Hangmen by Mason Proffit. To close our mouths and kill our minds, they hung us side by side.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEnw4VQGWhs:
To my friend Bill Fleming – I think all of “Lynn’s” posts in this thread confirm what I described earlier. And Blindman, as for whether “Lynn” is male or female, check out:
http://westmoreland.house.gov/
This suggests that it is quite unfair to label “Lynn” as a female.
Whatever gender “Lynn” is, “Lynn” has continually discounted the real human experiences of posters on this site, and has fallen back on the exact fears promulgated by the 1930’s anti-marijuana advocates, with one exception – it is not yet clear whether “Lynn” will argue that marijuana causes black men to rape white women. I anxiously await “Lynn’s” analysis on this important issue.
http://www.businessinsider.com/r-washington-state-gets-65-million-in-first-year-taxes-from-marijuana-2015-7
And the winner is-
Sorry Jerry. I missed your post.
Good to put it back out mfi, that is an astounding number. Of course, Washington state has a couple more folks than South Dakota, but if you do the numbers according to population, we would stand to bring in enough to take care of our teachers and damned near everything else. It is a much better deal than we received from the one eyed jacks deal in gambling.
Bear,
With all due respect, as I mentioned earlier I know Lynn and she is most certainly a woman.
Thanks for the information about Lynn, Roger. I am unsure that that her sex matters in this discussion thread, but the link to the male named “Lynn” suggests how easy it is to make unwarranted assumptions about people we have never met, including assumptions about the motives of advocates for legalized medical-marijuana.
i dont remember if i disagree with lynn’s other stances, but on rec pot, i tend to agree as a non-user of substances. her summary at 7.10, 18:57 is harrowing if correct.
the load my extended family has carried with addiction over the last 50+ years has been heavy and “sobering”. but shouldering another load in the face of withering fire from the pro’s like lynn and cory appear to, is not something i am willing to carry given the lack of, or changing views of clear science. (e.g. AMA declares “addiction a disease”, 1967 v. DSM-5 “a disorder”). i leave that to NIH, NIDA ect.
“dost protest too much, me thinks”
Remember I mentioned how legalizing pot via decriminalizing it and a flawed medical marijuana laws can increase use along with see a decrease in productivity? A local news station did a pretty good job investigating factory workers in Detroit back in 2010 and 2011 that used their lunch break to consume as much alcohol and pot as they could before they went back to work. They were tipped off by their line workers who got tired of having someone working next to them on the line that had a buzz or were high. It doesn’t just affect their own productivity and error rate on an assembly line but there are safety issues, pay bonuses, advancement and job security that is at stake with so many of our good jobs going to Mexico or Asia.
Chrysler Workers caught smoking pot & drinking https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzyRjX_pX5c That news crew was there watching and filming them 10 times at lunch break.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4B_YI7vQZdA
More Chrysler workers get caught again but this time at the Union Hall HQ parking lot
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxK4kP1fPtA
This is at a Detroit Defense plant same thing consuming as much weed and booze as they can during a lunch break. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SSOoWy6opg
If it’s not addictive as told by the pro pot crowd why do these workers have to get high every single day? Do you realize they pay and benefits these manufacturing jobs provide? Many underemployed and unemployed would love to have these jobs! Sure would be nice to have these jobs in South Dakota!
What is mentioned in these news stories is more common in metro more industrialized areas and is common to certain segments of industry. South Dakota needs every competitive edge it can get in getting good paying jobs with benefits and legalizing, decriminalizing and with flawed medical marijuana laws will be a major liability as usage will go up and will spill over to the workplace.