PIERRE, SD – Legislators on the Medical Marijuana Study Subcommittee got an update on the rules and regulations needed to start the program that was approved by voters last year.
State Health Department Secretary Kim Malsam-Rysdon says they have been working to find a company that will handle the necessary medical cannabis cards users will need.
“We issued an RFP on April 26 for that system and received several bids from different vendors,” said Malsam-Rysdon. “Our team has been doing a lot of work a to evaluate those vendors and proposals. We are currently doing background and reference checks on the companies that came in on top.” She added, “We are on schedule to select the winning vendor imminently.”
The state health secretary says they hope to have that system in place by their deadline.
“We anticipate the contract start date will be in September as planned and that we will have the system in place by Oct. 29.” She continued, “As some of you might be familiar with setting up IT systems, you’ll know it’sa good idea to have a contingency plan in place. We are actively working on that as well so we can meet the statutory requirement to issue cards by mid-November.
She says they are also getting the rules in place.
“We’re now starting the formal process,” shared Malsam-Rysdon. “On July 27 we released an updated draft of the administrative rules and we have formally initiated the rules publication process. That mean the draft rules are on the state’s administrative rules portal.” She added, “The Notice of Hearing and the availability of these rules was published in three of the largest newspapers across the state. We also did a news release for other newspapers to pick up.”
The public hearing on the medical marijuana rules will be Wed., Aug. 18 in Pierre.
