PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — A bill to bar the sale of sweetened medical marijuana products and gummies failed to pass the South Dakota House on Thursday.
The bill would have banned the sale of cannabis products with “added sweeteners, flavorings, or colorings.” The Republican-controlled House has been more receptive to substantive changes to the voter-passed medical marijuana law than the Senate, but the 21 to 47 vote that killed the bill shows lawmakers are treading cautiously as they put their mark on the new law.
Republican Rep. Fred Deutsch, who sponsored the proposal, argued that it would prevent overdoses in children who “don’t know the difference between candy that tastes good and candy that is spiked with THC and will land them in the emergency room.”
However, a majority of lawmakers sided with opponents who argued that the Department of Health had already addressed the marketing of medical pot to children when it created rules for the program and the law proposed by Deutsch would have banned pot gummies that patients use.
“What you’re trying to take here today is a medication that people need,” said Democratic Rep. Oren Lesmeister, who said gummies made it easier for his grandson to use marijuana for a medical condition.