STURGIS, S.D. – The Meade County Commission passed second reading of an updated version to their medical marijuana license ordinance today. It comes one week after the commission passed first reading of Ordinance 55.
This follows a petition that was turned in setting up a vote to have the county offer more than one medical marijuana dispensary license.
Last year, the Meade County Commission passed Ordinance 53 concerning the issuance of new medical cannabis establishment licenses and determined they would consider all qualified applications in the order they were received, but only awarded one medical marijuana dispensary license at cost of $125,000.
That was awarded to Puffy’s L.L.C.
The ordinance also stated that no more local licenses may be issued after the available new local licenses have been awarded by the commissioners.
However, on July 5, Meade County Commission Assistant Jerry Derr says the Meade County Auditor’s Office received an initiative petition containing the required 1,009 signatures asking to amend the county’s ordinance on medical cannabis establishments.
Commission Assistant Jerry Derr says “so the commission got a petition to the marijuana ordinance that we have, Ordinance 53, and we had a resolution in place, basically, that talked about how that one dispensary license would be issued. So, it was a timing thing and we issued just one license. Anyway, there was another entity that came in after we issued the one license and wanted to kinda be in the cue, and they had a late filing. “
Derr says this Ordinance will be ready in case voters approve to amend Ordinance 53.
The petitioners are asking to amend the county’s ordinance and award three dispensary licenses as well as three licenses for cultivation facilities, three for cannabis testing facilities and three for cannabis product manufacturing facilities. The county’s original ordinance didn’t offer any licenses for cultivation, testing or product manufacturing.
Voters will decide the issue on August 30th.
You can read more about Ordinance 55 here: https://go.boarddocs.com/sd/meade/Board.nsf/files/CGJMPC5967CC/$file/Lottery%20Ordinance.pdf
