WeedPress: The Paper Trail

Related: Public Records Show Two Civil Cases Involving 605 Cannabis Executive; Questions of Transparency Follow For Reform Leadership

I carry a South Dakota medical cannabis card, and I live in Sioux Falls. In September, according to the Department of Health, I was one of 20,040 registered patients, alongside 631 caregivers and 212 providers.²

Twenty thousand people is not a niche. It is a constituency. As the 2027 session approaches, the question is who speaks for us, and whether they can survive the scrutiny we ask of the Department, the Legislature and the industry.

What patients actually need

Patients need three things: a place to buy medicine, prices we can afford and products we can trust.

On the first, the trend is going the wrong way: 139 certified establishments in state fiscal year 2023, including 79 dispensaries, became 108 licensed establishments, including 62 dispensaries, on the Department’s August 27, 2026 list.³

On trust, South Dakota now lists one licensed testing laboratory. In August 2025, the Department told lawmakers it had certified two. As WeedPress reported Oct. 26, the Department has not said publicly what, if anything, replaced the cross-check two labs once provided.⁴

On affordability, I read home cultivation as a patient signal. Licensed home cultivators rose from 61 in fiscal year 2022 to 715 in fiscal year 2026, according to the Department’s testimony to lawmakers. Adding home cultivation to a card costs twenty dollars.⁵ In my opinion, that says something about shelf prices and access, and patient advocates should put it in front of the Legislature.

When patients get on the record

Revised medical cannabis rules take effect November 5.⁶ The Department had proposed barring a qualifying patient under 21 from cultivating cannabis or designating a caregiver to cultivate for the patient. The Legislative Research Council’s code counsel wrote: “Law Implemented/intelligible standards supporting this content is quite weak, without more statutory authority.”⁷ After the public hearing, the Department “made the decision to strike sections restricting home cultivation for individuals under age 21.”⁸

That change followed a public hearing, public comment and Legislative Research Council review. In my view, that is effective patient advocacy.

The law already says patients are supposed to be heard. SDCL 34-20G-93 directs the Medical Marijuana Oversight Committee to evaluate whether patients “in all areas of the state” have “timely access to high-quality medical cannabis,” whether dispensary prices are reasonable, and whether “a sufficient number” of testing facilities are operating. It also says the committee “shall ensure that it seeks relevant input from qualifying patients.”⁹

I have criticized that committee harshly.¹⁰ Lawmakers tried to repeal it this year; HB 1160 passed the House 41–26 and failed in the Senate 15–19.¹¹ The committee survives. In my view, patients should hold it to its statutory patient-input duty in 2027.

Who speaks for patients

Here is the harder part.

In my view, credibility is the program’s most valuable asset in Pierre, and every unsupported or conflicted claim from someone presenting as a patient voice makes it easier for lawmakers to discount the next patient witness.

That is why WeedPress covers public records involving cannabis businesses that cite patient-advocacy credentials, including 605 Cannabis LLC. In a 2024 court brief, 605 Cannabis said that, before the company was started, several of its principals “were the primary architects and advocates for Initiated Measure 26,” the 2020 ballot measure that created this program.¹² The Department of Health issued a February 2023 notice of intent to revoke 605 Cannabis’s registration certificates.¹³ Lincoln County approved the company’s local medical cannabis license renewal in November 2025.¹⁴ At the May 12 hearing, after the parties were sworn, Mentele told a judge, “Your Honor, I own the company.”¹⁵ At the same hearing, she also told the judge, “I’m no [sic] Social Security Disability.”¹⁶

These are court, agency and local-government records. None of them is a finding that anyone broke a law, and I am not claiming one. Our earlier reporting, linked in the notes, includes key documents.¹⁷

My point is narrower: when a cannabis business points to its principals’ patient-advocacy credentials, patients deserve to know where the business interest ends and the patient interest begins. Sometimes they line up. Sometimes they do not. Disclosure is how patients tell the difference.

The standard should apply to everyone, including me

If I ask that of others, I have to accept it myself. Here is the standard I think every patient advocate should meet, WeedPress included:

• Disclose money. If you hold a license, own part of an establishment, or are paid by one, say so before you testify for “patients.”
• Put numbers in the record. Patient counts, establishment counts, prices and testing capacity belong in written comments and committee testimony, with sources.
• Use the public process. Open-records requests, written rule comments and committee testimony create a record. WeedPress asked the Legislative Research Council for five years of oversight-committee records involving outside individuals and organizations for that reason.¹⁸
• Correct mistakes in public. When we get something wrong, we fix it and say so.
• Label opinion as opinion. This column is one.

What I want from the 2027 session

The 102nd Legislature convenes January 12, 2027, and is scheduled to run to March 31, with a recess from March 12 to March 30.¹⁹ In my opinion, patients should take four asks to Pierre:

1. Explain publicly how product testing is checked now that the state lists one lab.
2. Examine why the establishment count fell and what that means for “timely access” in “all areas of the state,” the standard in the oversight statute.
3. Show, in the oversight committee’s record, how it seeks patient input, as its statute requires.
4. Ask every witness who claims to speak for patients whether they have a financial stake in the outcome.

This should not be about one person. It is about whether 20,040 registered patients are represented by people who can withstand the scrutiny we demand of everyone else. The program’s credibility depends on it. So does ours.

Related coverage

• 605 Cannabis Principal Raised Social Security Disability in Court While Fighting Foreclosure on Emery Home
• South Dakota’s Revised Medical Cannabis Rules Take Effect Nov. 5; Department’s Latest Posted Version Omits Two Proposed Corrective-Action Penalty Sentences
• South Dakota Had Two Medical Cannabis Testing Labs. Now It Has One. Nobody Has Explained Why.
• WeedPress Requests Five Years of MMOC Communications with Outside Groups
• LRC Says South Dakota Health’s New Homegrow Restriction May Lack Statutory Authority
• 38 Rules, 19,821 Patients, 108 Licensed Establishments: South Dakota Rewrites Its Medical Cannabis Program
• Health Department Tells Lawmakers South Dakota’s $20 Home-Grow Law Is Too Thin to Police — and Tightening It Raises Safety Questions
• HB 1160 Went Down in the Senate: South Dakota’s MMOC Repeal Bill Fails After Smoke-Out
• Public Records Show Two Civil Cases Involving 605 Cannabis Executive; Questions of Transparency Follow For Reform Leadership

Notes

¹ Transcript of Protection Order Hearing, Mentele v. Karimi, No. 49TPO26-343 (S.D. Cir. Ct. 2d Cir. Minnehaha Cnty. May 12, 2026) (certified July 8, 2026), at 25:1–8, 25:19–21, https://weedpress.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/mentele-v-karimi-2026-05-12-transcript-redacted-v2.pdf; see Jason Karimi, WeedPress Appellee Brief, Melissa Mentele v. Jason Karimi, South Dakota Supreme Court, July 15, 2026, WeedPress (July 15, 2026), https://weedpress.org/2026/07/15/weedpress-appellee-brief-melissa-mentele-v-jason-karimi-south-dakota-supreme-court-july-15-2026/.

² S.D. Dep’t of Health, Medical Cannabis Data, September 2026 (Oct. 1, 2026), https://doh.sd.gov/programs/medical-cannabis/.

³ Jason Karimi, 38 Rules, 19,821 Patients, 108 Licensed Establishments: South Dakota Rewrites Its Medical Cannabis Program, WeedPress (Sept. 9, 2026), https://weedpress.org/2026/09/09/38-rules-19821-patients-108-licensed-establishments-south-dakota-rewrites-its-medical-cannabis-program/ (citing S.D. Dep’t of Health, SFY 2023 Medical Cannabis Annual Report 5 (Nov. 29, 2023), https://doh.sd.gov/media/dlenc2n1/sfy-2023-medical-cannabis-annual-report.pdf, and S.D. Dep’t of Health, Medical Cannabis Establishments List (updated Aug. 27, 2026)).

⁴ Jason Karimi, South Dakota Had Two Medical Cannabis Testing Labs. Now It Has One. Nobody Has Explained Why., WeedPress (Oct. 26, 2026), https://weedpress.org/2026/10/26/south-dakota-had-two-medical-cannabis-testing-labs-now-it-has-one-nobody-has-explained-why/.

⁵ Jason Karimi, Health Department Tells Lawmakers South Dakota’s $20 Home-Grow Law Is Too Thin to Police — and Tightening It Raises Safety Questions, WeedPress (Sept. 2, 2026), https://weedpress.org/2026/09/02/health-department-tells-lawmakers-south-dakotas-20-home-grow-law-is-too-thin-to-police-and-tightening-it-raises-safety-questions/.

⁶ Final Administrative Rules, 53 S.D. Reg. 56 (Oct. 26, 2026), https://mylrc.sdlegislature.gov/api/Documents/Register/308659.pdf; see Jason Karimi, South Dakota’s Revised Medical Cannabis Rules Take Effect Nov. 5, WeedPress (Oct. 27, 2026), https://weedpress.org/2026/10/27/south-dakota-revised-medical-cannabis-rules-take-effect-nov-5-44-90/.

⁷ Letter from Justin J. Goetz, Code Counsel, S.D. Legis. Rsch. Council, to Jennifer Jorgenson, S.D. Dep’t of Health (Sept. 4, 2026) (with proposed-rules markup), https://rules.sd.gov/Uploads/970_LetterLRCApproval.pdf; Jason Karimi, LRC Says South Dakota Health’s New Homegrow Restriction May Lack Statutory Authority, WeedPress (Sept. 23, 2026), https://weedpress.org/2026/09/23/lrc-says-south-dakota-healths-new-homegrow-restriction-may-lack-statutory-authority/.

⁸ S.D. Dep’t of Health, Minutes of Public Hearing (Form 10), ARSD art. 44:90 (hearing held Sept. 23, 2026), https://rules.sd.gov/Uploads/970_AgencyHearingMin.pdf.

⁹ S.D. Codified Laws § 34-20G-93, https://sdlegislature.gov/Statutes/34-20G-93.

¹⁰ Jason Karimi, South Dakota’s MMOC Board Is Political Theatre And Needs Disbanded, WeedPress (Feb. 24, 2026), https://weedpress.org/2026/02/24/south-dakotas-mmoc-board-is-political-theatre-and-needs-disbanded/.

¹¹ H.B. 1160, 101st Leg. Sess. (S.D. 2026) (House roll call 84111, 41–26, Feb. 23, 2026; Senate roll call 84711, 15–19, Mar. 9, 2026), https://sdlegislature.gov/Session/Bill/27182; Jason Karimi, HB 1160 Went Down in the Senate, WeedPress (Mar. 11, 2026), https://weedpress.org/2026/03/11/hb-1160-went-down-in-the-senate-south-dakotas-mmoc-repeal-bill-fails-after-smoke-out/.

¹² S.D. Dep’t of Health, Medical Cannabis Program, https://doh.sd.gov/programs/medical-cannabis/ (program “[e]stablished after voters approved Initiated Measure 26 in November 2020”); 605 Cannabis, LLC’s Br. in Opp’n to Pl.’s Appl. for Prelim. Inj., Big Country Inv. Grp. Corp. v. 605 Cannabis, LLC, No. 41CIV24-000629 (S.D. Cir. Ct. 2d Cir. Lincoln Cnty. filed Sept. 12, 2024), at 2, as reported in Jason Karimi, 605 Cannabis Principal Raised Social Security Disability in Court While Fighting Foreclosure on Emery Home, WeedPress (Oct. 27, 2026), https://weedpress.org/2026/10/27/605-cannabis-principal-raised-social-security-disability-in-court-while-fighting-foreclosure-on-emery-home/.

¹³ S.D. Dep’t of Health, Notice of Intent to Revoke Registration Certificates (Feb. 8, 2023), filed as Ex. 3, Big Country, No. 41CIV24-000629 (filed Aug. 8, 2024), at 3–4, as reported in Karimi, supra note 12.

¹⁴ Lincoln Cnty. Bd. of Comm’rs, Nov. 25, 2025 Agenda Packet, Consent Agenda Item 3 (605 Cannabis medical cannabis license renewal application), at 319–22, as reported in Karimi, supra note 12.

¹⁵ Transcript, supra note 1, at 3:17 (parties sworn), 24:7.

¹⁶ Transcript, supra note 1, at 24:25.

¹⁷ Karimi, supra note 12 (Key documents); Jason Karimi, Public Records Show Two Civil Cases Involving 605 Cannabis Executive; Questions of Transparency Follow For Reform Leadership, WeedPress (Apr. 26, 2026), https://weedpress.org/2026/04/26/public-records-show-two-active-civil-cases-involving-605-cannabis-executive-questions-of-transparency-follow-for-reform-leadership/.

¹⁸ Jason Karimi, WeedPress Requests Five Years of MMOC Communications with Outside Groups, WeedPress (Oct. 19, 2026), https://weedpress.org/2026/10/19/weedpress-requests-five-years-of-mmoc-communications-with-outside-groups/.

¹⁹ Press Release, S.D. Legis. Rsch. Council, 2027 Legislative Page Applications (2026), https://mylrc.sdlegislature.gov/api/Documents/PressRelease/307562.pdf.