RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) – South Dakota Initiated Measure 29 is one of several issues on Tuesday’s ballot. If passed, the measure would legalize recreational marijuana use, possession and distribution for South Dakotans aged 21 and older.
Rapid City leaders on each side of the issue gathered in Main Street Square Thursday to express their positions. Rapid City Mayor Jason Salamun spoke first, flanked by Pennington County Sheriff Brian Mueller and Rapid City Police Chief Don Hedrick. The three men all expressed opposition to IM 29.
“If you’ve traveled around in places where recreational marijuana has been legalized, I don’t think it has gotten better,” Salamun said, “It has only made those communities worse, in my opinion. And I don’t want that for Rapid City, I want better for Rapid City.”
Salamun supported this argument by recalling meetings with mayors in Colorado.
“They all cautioned me: ‘If you can not have this in your community, please don’t. It has not helped us, and we’ve had to deal with the consequences ever since’,” Salamun said.
Mueller and Hedrick expressed similar opinions.
“We’ve learned a lot from our neighbors in Colorado,” Mueller said, “We know that the accidents, serious accidents, fatality accidents are going to go up if we legalize recreational marijuana. We know that work-related accidents and injuries are gonna increase.”
“Most of what your law enforcement officers deal with on a daily basis has to do with impairment of some kind,” Hedrick said, “That concerns us that there will be more access to chemicals that can impair you.”
Hedrick also shared concerns about the potential effects THC could have on children’s and young adults’ brains.
After Salamun, Mueller and Hedrick finished speaking, recreational marijuana legalization proponents stuck around to give their thoughts. Among them was Kittrick Jeffries, owner of Puffy’s Dispensary. Jeffries argued a well-regulated marijuana market would prevent users being accidentally exposed to more dangerous drugs such as fentanyl.
”We don’t need drug dealers pushing other harmful substances,” Jeffries argued, “We need to push that behind regulated business owners who pass background checks and go through all the checks and balances that our state government would provide.”
Jeffries said studies found 110,000 South Dakotans smoke marijuana annually, adding, “A ‘no’ vote supports the status quo of drug dealers behind closed doors and in the shadows dealing marijuana.”