Fees for medical marijuana operators in SD doubling

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KEVN) - The registration fees for medical marijuana operators in South Dakota will soon double.

When medical marijuana was passed in 2020, there was a law that required the program to be self-sustaining. Because of this, at the Department of Health’s urging, the state legislature increased those license fees, passing Senate Bill 43 earlier this year.

Because of this newly passed law, the cost of an annual registration is rising from $5,310 to $9,000.

Kittrick Jeffries owns Puffy’s dispensary and says that although he strives to provide affordable care to patients, this price increase impacts his customers.

“The increased costs are beholden to the cannabis establishment; those costs typically get pushed down to patients, and we want patients to have affordable access to medical marijuana; that’s why we got into this industry, so we’d hope to work with the Department of Health to make sure those patients do have access to an affordable program,” Jeffries said.

In the meantime, South Dakota voters will have the opportunity to voice their opinion on the legalization of recreational marijuana for the third time in four years this November.

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