MEDICAL CANNABIS EXPECTED TO PASS

Medical marijuana is once again on the ballot for South Dakota voters
after a narrow defeat in 2006; but this time community members think
it's going to pass.

Initiative Measure 13, which would allow the use and cultivation of
marijuana by people with debilitating illnesses such as cancer or
multiple sclerosis, was placed on the ballot in March after more than
30,000 people signed a ballot petition.

Vermillion Police Chief Art Mabry, who also serves as the head of the
South Dakota Police Chiefs' Association and is an opponent of the
measure, said it is only a matter of time before medical marijuana
becomes legal in South Dakota.

"I honestly think it's going to pass this time," Mabry said. "The
margin the last attempt failed by was so small that it would surprise
me if it doesn't pass this time."

Senior Pat Donat wasn't sure about the fate of the initiative, but
says he wouldn't be surprised by it.

"Personally, I'd like to see the initiative pass," Donat said. "If it
doesn't it is because the people who would vote for it aren't coming
out to vote."

Emmett Reistroffer, South Dakota Coalition for Compassion coordinator,
said he hopes for another good year in Clay County after voters came
out in favor of the previous attempt at passing a medical marijuana
initiative.

"Whether you're in support of the measure or not, it is important for
everyone to get out and vote," Reistroffer said. "An initiative like
this is what democracy is all about."

But Mabry is concerned about how the Department of Health would not
have the ability to regulate the growers of marijuana.

"All of the responsibility for regulating medical marijuana growers
would fall on law enforcement, and that is something we currently
don't have the resources for," he said.

Mabry said he has talked to law enforcement officials in states that
have passed medical marijuana laws and some of the responses he's
heard have been fairly negative in regard to the difficulties that
arise in trying to make sure medical marijuana is not being abused.

"It's tough for a police officer when they see someone who looks fine
smoking marijuana and then when they ask them about it they get a card
saying that they have 'chronic pain,'" Mabry said. "I don't want to
sound unsympathetic to the people with serious illnesses that say
marijuana helps them, but 'chronic pain' sounds pretty ambiguous to
me."

Rather than deal with the difficulties associated with regulating
medical marijuana, Mabry said he'd prefer that a group would just
propose a measure that would legalize marijuana outright and then
subsequently tax it.

"I hate to say it, but if the goal in the long run is to legalize
marijuana for all people, why not just try to do that?" Mabry said.
"If marijuana were legal and taxed, at the least the state would
receive money from the taxation."

Reistroffer said complete legalization of marijuana is not the group's
motive.

"Our goal is to legalize medical marijuana for use in legitimate
cases," he said. "One of the founding members of Coalition for
Compassion, Patrick Lynch, has multiple sclerosis and was chairman of
the MS Society. These are people with legitimate concerns."

Reistroffer said he is confident the initiative will pass due to
changes in public opinion since 2006. In addition to an apparent
increase in public acceptance of medical marijuana, the American
Medical Association has taken the stance that it would like marijuana
to be moved from its current Schedule 1 listing, which states that the
drug has no medicinal value.

In addition to the AMA change in stance, the American Nurses
Association wants criminal penalties to be removed for patients using
marijuana.