City makes stance known on marijuana

You could color us somewhat surprised that the legalization of recreational marijuana in South Dakota not only failed during the last General Election, but failed quite soundly. It seemed logical that IM 27, which would have legalized recreational marijuana in the state, would pass, given that medical marijuana had already been approved and a previous movement to approve recreational marijuana passed but was struck down due to a legal challenge of the ballot question.
However, South Dakota voters spoke once again that recreational marijuana is not wanted in the state, although we are sure we haven’t heard the last from the pro-recreational marijuana crowd. Maybe it’s only a matter of time before recreational marijuana is legalized by all 50 states, and perhaps even federally. Until that time, however, it seems that the people of South Dakota are going to continue to fight it. A majority of South Dakotans anyway.
Perhaps emboldened by what occurred during the election, the Custer City Council recently unanimously approved amending its medical cannabis ordinance to remove licenses for the manufacturing, distribution or testing of medical marijuana within the city limits. It also lowered the amount of dispensary licenses it would issue from unlimited to two. By law the city is required to offer at least once license.
 It wasn’t long ago that a company was before the city council proposing a large manufacturing facility for medical cannabis where The Hills Self Storage sits. Citizens turned out in force to speak out against the facility, and the council ended up tabling the issue as long as possible. The proposal is now dead in the water, as no such facility is allowed within city limits.
The Custer County Commission made its feelings on the issue known much the same way by attaching such a hefty price tag to the licenses within the county that it would be cost prohibitive to put such a facility in the county. General discussion from those at all these meetings is that marijuana—medical or otherwise—just isn’t wanted in the City of Custer or Custer County.
Somewhere someone is reading this while smoking a joint. They are well within their rights to do that. It seems the majority of those in the city and county (which both voted even more heavily against legalization) don’t want any type of cannabis around at this time. That may change in the future, but for now the message is loud and clear—our residents are just saying no to pot.