Agendas, minutes and posted testimony show that at two meetings held while Rep. Josephine Garcia was chair, in October 2025 and October 2026, South Dakota’s Medical Marijuana Oversight Committee gave most of its scheduled presentation time to speakers focused on marijuana’s risks or on stricter controls, while leading industry representatives such as Jeremiah Murphy and Kittrick Jeffries, who once had their own agenda blocks, spoke mostly during public comment. Where the record includes members’ and speakers’ stated reasons, they are included here.
By Jason Karimi, WeedPress
Disclosure: WeedPress publisher Jason Karimi is a party to pending litigation with Melissa Mentele, co-founder and chief operations officer of 605 Cannabis. That litigation is not the subject of this article.
For its first years, the South Dakota Legislature’s Medical Marijuana Oversight Committee built its agendas around categories of speakers. In August 2023, the agenda reserved a block for “representatives of medical marijuana cultivating facilities, testing facilities, manufacturing facilities, and dispensaries.”1 In August 2024, it listed “Comments by representatives of the medical marijuana industry” four separate times.2
At two meetings since then, most of the scheduled presentation time went to speakers who presented on marijuana’s risks or urged stricter controls, including physicians, a school superintendent, a retired law enforcement officer and a national policy advocate. On Oct. 22, 2025, five presenters focused on health risks were scheduled in consecutive slots. On Oct. 13, 2026, the agenda scheduled three presentations of that kind, by Bertha Madras of Harvard Medical School; Kevin Sabet, president and CEO of Smart Approaches to Marijuana; and Kenneth Finn, a board member of the International Academy on the Science and Impacts of Cannabis, at 30 minutes each, or 90 minutes in all. It gave public comment, open to everyone else, 30 minutes. The committee’s other meetings under Garcia included an industry segment, a testing-lab presentation and a briefing from the National Conference of State Legislatures.3
WeedPress reviewed the committee’s posted agendas, minutes, hearing documents from 2022 through 2026, and its final reports for 2022 through 2025. For the Oct. 13 meeting, for which the Legislature had not posted minutes as of Oct. 26, WeedPress also made an unofficial machine transcript of the South Dakota Public Broadcasting (SDPB) recording.4 Material from that recording is paraphrased below and attributed to the recording. The record shows a change in who presents and how much time they get. It does not show who chose the speakers: no posted document says whether Garcia or anyone else invited or selected any outside presenter. A separate WeedPress article, “Who Picked the Anti-Marijuana Speakers? South Dakota Legislature Says State Law Lets It Keep That Secret,” covers the Legislature’s response to WeedPress’s request for those records.
Disclosure: Jason Karimi submitted written questions to the committee for its Oct. 13, 2026 meeting, which the Legislature posted, and emailed additional written comments on Oct. 13, which it has not posted, according to WeedPress’s records. He also filed the Oct. 19, 2026 records request covered in that separate article.^5^ WeedPress covers South Dakota’s medical cannabis program and industry.
Before: industry on the agenda
The committee’s 2022 agendas, under Chair Sen. Erin Tobin, listed a Department of Health update and “Public Testimony.”6 Industry representatives spoke during that testimony, including Jeremiah Murphy of the Cannabis Industry Association of South Dakota and Kittrick Jeffries of Dakota Cannabis Consulting.7 The 2023 and 2024 agendas gave the industry its own blocks.1,2 At the Aug. 21, 2023 meeting, five industry presenters spoke in that block, followed by “other interested parties” that included Rep. Fred Deutsch and Catholic Social Services.8
Garcia was elected chair at the committee’s Aug. 19, 2025 meeting, winning a ballot vote with six ayes over a competing nomination of Rep. Bobbi Andera. Sen. John Carley was elected vice chair 10–0.9 That first meeting under Garcia still had an industry segment, “The State of the Medical Cannabis Industry in South Dakota and the Impact of Regulations on the Industry,” in which Murphy, Genesis Farms’ Emmett Reistroffer and Jeffries presented.10
October 2025: five health-risk presentations in a row
The Oct. 22, 2025 agenda scheduled five presentations from 10:15 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.: retired Missouri law enforcement officer Ed Moses on “Medical Marijuana and the Therapeutic Index”; Sioux Falls School District Superintendent Dr. James Nold on effects in schools; Colorado emergency physician Dr. Karen Randall; psychologist Dr. John Duncan; and Colorado addiction psychiatrist Dr. Libby Stuyt. The owners of Happy Flower Healing, a Yankton dispensary, followed on inspections and fines, and public comment was set for 3:15 p.m.11
The minutes’ stream timestamps show that the span from the first presenter’s start to the start of the Happy Flower Healing segment ran from about 13 minutes into the meeting to 3 hours 48 minutes, roughly 3 hours 35 minutes, including a scheduled working lunch. Happy Flower Healing’s segment ran about 38 minutes. Public comment ran about 1 hour 32 minutes, shared by seven speakers and Department of Health officials who answered committee questions.12 The committee’s 2025 final report says the day’s presentations “focused on the health effects of marijuana use, including the danger marijuana poses to children, the effects of marijuana on behavior, and the psychological impacts of marijuana use.”13
Stuyt’s slides disclosed, “I am on the board of IASIC – International Academy on the Science and Impacts of Cannabis,” and also stated that she has no financial relationship with any pharmaceutical company or with the alcohol, tobacco or marijuana industries.14 A year later, the Oct. 13, 2026 agenda identified Finn as a member of the same organization’s “Board of Directors.”3
November 2025: a THC cap, and no industry seat
At its Nov. 4, 2025 meeting, with four members excused, the committee voted 4–3 to support a cap on THC percentage in medical marijuana products. Bostic, West, Carley and Garcia voted yes; Andera, Nelson and Entwisle voted no.15 It also voted 6–1 to recommend that the Department of Health educate the public on marijuana and 6–1 to recommend mandatory department reporting of marijuana-related hospitalizations, drugged driving and poison-control data.15 That meeting’s one outside presentation on the agenda came from two cannabis testing labs, Cannabis ChemLab and Triverity Analytical.16
The same day, a motion to support adding a medical marijuana industry representative to the committee failed 3–4, with Andera, Nelson and Entwisle in favor and Bostic, West, Carley and Garcia opposed. A motion to add a licensed pharmacist passed 7–0.17 The final report lists the adopted recommendations and notes that the industry seat was not adopted.18
The committee’s patient representation had already shrunk, before Garcia’s tenure. Initiated Measure 26 created a committee that included “three qualifying patients.” The 2023 Legislature reconfigured it to include “one qualifying patient.”19 In October 2024, Murphy told the committee it should “go back at least to the original three patient representatives.” Then-Chair Tobin responded that the statute directs the committee to seek input from patients and many others, that “any one can come forward to the microphone,” and that she was concerned about changing the committee’s makeup after only two years.20
October 2026: 90 minutes and 30 minutes
The Oct. 13, 2026 agenda listed Madras, a Harvard Medical School professor of psychobiology, at 10:30 a.m.; Sabet, president and CEO of Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM), at 11 a.m.; and Finn at 12:30 p.m. Between them were a Department of Health follow-up and Jeremy Barthels of Northwestern Health Sciences University, whose slides say he appeared in his individual capacity.3,21 Sabet’s posted script begins: “Time allotted: 30-minute block (about 20 minutes of remarks, about 10 minutes of member questions).”22
According to the SDPB recording, the meeting ran behind schedule. Before Madras began, Carley indicated that presenters would get their full time despite the delay. By the recording, Madras spoke for about 30 minutes, Sabet about 15 and Finn, including screen-sharing setup and questions, about 49. Public comment began after a short break about three and a half hours into the meeting and lasted about 73 minutes. Partway through, the chair announced a six-minute limit per speaker, with extensions if needed.4
During public comment, Steph Sherer of Americans for Safe Access, a Washington, D.C., organization, presented slides that included a section titled “State Actions Needed to Preserve & Protect Patient Access.”23 According to the recording, the chair asked her to wrap up and allowed two more minutes, citing others who were waiting. Kasey Entwisle, the committee’s patient member, objected on the record that Sherer had been cut off at six minutes. The chair responded that Sherer had spoken for nine and a half minutes and that the chair had discretion over time. Another person on the recording, whom the transcript does not identify, said Sherer had already received more than the stated limit. The chair at first declined to allow Entwisle a question, then allowed it after other members said they would accept a question about the presentation.4
What Sabet's posted documents show
Sabet’s written testimony thanks “Chair Garcia, Vice Chair Carley, and members of the committee” for “the invitation to submit this testimony and to appear on October 13.” It does not say who issued the invitation.24 It discloses that “SAM is among the petitioners challenging the April 2026 federal order” that moved state-licensed medical marijuana to Schedule III.25 His script describes SAM as “the leading non-profit fighting against the commercialization of marijuana.”22
The script the Legislature posted also includes two pages headed “ANTICIPATED QUESTIONS (PREP NOTES, NOT FOR READING ALOUD).” They predict, “Expect at least one question framing SAM as trying to end the program,” and supply the answer: “No. … Nothing proposed repeals access; every option keeps a path for patients with serious conditions.” On the federal lawsuit, the notes say: “Keep answers on the litigation factual; SAM is a party (check with counsel beforehand on how much to say).” On whether marijuana is safer than opioids for pain patients, they say: “Defer clinical detail to Dr. Madras and Dr. Finn.”26 The notes show Sabet anticipated that Madras and Finn would also be presenting.
Sabet asked the Legislature to require that pain and PTSD certifications rest on documented diagnoses; to authorize “THC limits not exceeding 10-15%”; to bar combustible and inhalable products and “only permit pill or capsule form products”; to lower the purchase limit; to tighten home cultivation; to expand the department’s advertising authority; and to require annual public reporting. He also suggested steps for the department and the committee.27 His testimony describes the options as ways to keep the program medical “without repealing what voters approved.”24
The record does not show the committee acting on those requests. The THC-cap recommendation passed on Nov. 4, 2025, almost a year before Sabet appeared, as did the public-education and mandatory-reporting recommendations.15 According to the recording, the only substantive member question to Sabet came from Carley, who asked him to expand on his suggestion of a public picture of how certifications are spread across practitioners. The only motions heard on Oct. 13 were to approve the prior minutes and to adjourn. During the closing discussion, some members raised themes that overlapped with presenters’ testimony, including potency caps and Department of Health authority over dosage, but no motion was made.4 Official minutes may differ and had not been posted as of Oct. 26.
What was not posted
The committee’s online hearing documents for 2026 list 20 items as of Oct. 26. None is from Madras.28 According to the recording, she shared slides on screen during her presentation and said she had no conflicts of interest, and no member questions followed before the chair moved to Sabet.4 Barthels’s slides were posted Oct. 19, six days after the meeting.28
Karimi’s Oct. 13 written comments, which WeedPress’s records show he emailed to Legislative Research Council staff during the meeting with a request that they be filed in place of an appearance, are also not among the posted documents. The guest register lists him for public comment as “Presenting” with attendance “Written.”29 The agenda asks that written comments be provided at least 48 hours before a meeting, and his earlier written questions, dated Sept. 29 and 30, were posted Oct. 1.3,5
What members, speakers and critics said
According to the recording, Sen. Lauren Nelson said near the end of the Oct. 13 meeting that she knew some of the day’s presenters were not popular with some in the audience, but that the committee still needs to be reminded of marijuana’s effects. Another member, who said they support medical marijuana, said it helps to hear both sides.4
Critics of the lineup were heard as well. Aaron Cooper, who submitted written comments, wrote that Sabet’s scheduled presentation “reflects the long-standing policy position of Smart Approaches to Marijuana” and that “That perspective is entitled to be heard. It is not, however, neutral scientific testimony.”30 According to the recording, Jeffries said the industry association objected to presentations it viewed as one-sided against marijuana and would like to hear more presenters like Barthels. Ned Horsted of 605 Cannabis criticized the lineup as dominated by out-of-state presenters opposed to cannabis, and said a request to hold public comment until after the committee discussed recommendations had been turned down by a vote.4 WeedPress found no posted document confirming or refuting that vote.
The industry kept its place at the microphone
The shift in agenda slots did not remove industry voices. Murphy, whom the minutes identify as a registered lobbyist for the Cannabis Industry Association of South Dakota, spoke at nine of the 10 meetings with posted minutes from 2022 through August 2026, missing only Aug. 17, 2026. Jeffries, identified in the minutes with Dakota Cannabis Consulting or Puffy’s Dispensary, also spoke at nine of 10, missing only Aug. 19, 2024.31 Under Garcia, both spoke in the August 2025 industry segment and in public comment in October and November 2025.10,12,32
What remains outside the public record is how the lineup came together. The posted file shows who spoke, for how long and what the committee did afterward. It does not show who asked Madras, Sabet, Finn or the other outside presenters to come.
Notes
1. S.D. Legis. Rsch. Council, Medical Marijuana Oversight Committee, Agenda 1 (Aug. 21, 2023), https://mylrc.sdlegislature.gov/api/Documents/251886.pdf.
2. S.D. Legis. Rsch. Council, Medical Marijuana Oversight Committee, Agenda 1 (Aug. 19, 2024), https://mylrc.sdlegislature.gov/api/Documents/267816.pdf.
3. S.D. Legis. Rsch. Council, Medical Marijuana Oversight Committee, Interim Committee Agenda 1 (Oct. 13, 2026), https://mylrc.sdlegislature.gov/api/Documents/307903.pdf; see also Agenda 1 (Aug. 19, 2025), https://mylrc.sdlegislature.gov/api/Documents/285057.pdf; Agenda 1 (Nov. 4, 2025), https://mylrc.sdlegislature.gov/api/Documents/287054.pdf; Interim Committee Agenda 1 (Aug. 17, 2026), https://mylrc.sdlegislature.gov/api/Documents/307155.pdf.
4. S.D. Pub. Broad., Medical Marijuana Oversight Committee (Oct. 13, 2026) (audio recording), https://sdpb.sd.gov/sdpbpodcast/2026/interim/mmo10132026.mp3. Timestamps refer to this recording; WeedPress’s transcript is an unofficial machine transcription and is not quoted.
5. Jason Karimi, Cover Letter and Questions Submitted for the Record (Sept. 29–30, 2026) (posted Oct. 1, 2026), https://mylrc.sdlegislature.gov/api/Documents/308176.pdf; https://mylrc.sdlegislature.gov/api/Documents/308177.pdf; 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/.
6. S.D. Legis. Rsch. Council, Medical Marijuana Oversight Committee, Agenda 1 (July 14, 2022), https://mylrc.sdlegislature.gov/api/Documents/237292.pdf; Agenda 1 (Oct. 25, 2022), https://mylrc.sdlegislature.gov/api/Documents/237487.pdf.
7. S.D. Legis. Rsch. Council, Medical Marijuana Oversight Committee, Minutes 4–5 (July 14, 2022), https://mylrc.sdlegislature.gov/api/Documents/237390.pdf; Minutes 2–3 (Oct. 25, 2022), https://mylrc.sdlegislature.gov/api/Documents/238887.pdf.
8. S.D. Legis. Rsch. Council, Medical Marijuana Oversight Committee, Minutes 7–17 (Aug. 21, 2023), https://mylrc.sdlegislature.gov/api/Documents/254485.pdf.
9. S.D. Legis. Rsch. Council, Medical Marijuana Oversight Committee, Minutes 1 (Aug. 19, 2025), https://mylrc.sdlegislature.gov/api/Documents/285794.pdf.
10. S.D. Legis. Rsch. Council, Medical Marijuana Oversight Committee, Agenda 1 (Aug. 19, 2025), https://mylrc.sdlegislature.gov/api/Documents/285057.pdf; Minutes, supra note 9, at 2.
11. S.D. Legis. Rsch. Council, Medical Marijuana Oversight Committee, Agenda 1 (rev. Oct. 20, 2025) (Oct. 22, 2025 meeting), https://mylrc.sdlegislature.gov/api/Documents/286572.pdf.
12. S.D. Legis. Rsch. Council, Medical Marijuana Oversight Committee, Minutes 1–2 (Oct. 22, 2025), https://mylrc.sdlegislature.gov/api/Documents/287309.pdf (stream timestamps 13:04 to 3:48:20; 3:48:20 to 4:26:52; 4:26:52 to 5:58:35).
13. S.D. Legis. Rsch. Council, 2025 Interim Final Reports, Medical Marijuana Oversight Committee 58 (PDF p. 60), https://mylrc.sdlegislature.gov/api/Documents/289848.pdf.
14. Libby Stuyt, Why Cannabis Is NOT the Solution for PTSD and Concerns for the Increased Use by Those 65 and Older slides 1–2 (Oct. 22, 2025), https://mylrc.sdlegislature.gov/api/Documents/287170.pptx.
15. S.D. Legis. Rsch. Council, Medical Marijuana Oversight Committee, Minutes 3–4 (Nov. 4, 2025), https://mylrc.sdlegislature.gov/api/Documents/287684.pdf.
16. S.D. Legis. Rsch. Council, Medical Marijuana Oversight Committee, Agenda 1 (rev. Oct. 29, 2025) (Nov. 4, 2025 meeting), https://mylrc.sdlegislature.gov/api/Documents/287054.pdf (spelling the lab “Triverty”); see Triverity Analytical, MMOC – Patient Safety (Nov. 4, 2025), https://mylrc.sdlegislature.gov/api/Documents/288396.pdf.
17. Minutes (Nov. 4, 2025), supra note 15, at 3–4.
18. 2025 Interim Final Reports, supra note 13, at 58–59 (PDF pp. 60–61).
19. S.D. Legis. Rsch. Council, 2023 Interim Final Reports, Medical Marijuana Oversight Committee 16 (PDF p. 18), https://mylrc.sdlegislature.gov/api/Documents/256913.pdf.
20. S.D. Legis. Rsch. Council, Medical Marijuana Oversight Committee, Minutes 3 (Oct. 28, 2024), https://mylrc.sdlegislature.gov/api/Documents/272465.pdf.
21. Jeremy Barthels, Endocannabinoid System and Phytocannabinoids slide 2 (Oct. 13, 2026) (posted Oct. 19, 2026), https://mylrc.sdlegislature.gov/api/Documents/308523.pptx.
22. Kevin A. Sabet, Spoken Remarks 1 (Oct. 13, 2026), https://mylrc.sdlegislature.gov/api/Documents/308387.pdf.
23. S.D. Legis. Rsch. Council, Medical Marijuana Oversight Committee, Guest Register 2 (Oct. 13, 2026), https://mylrc.sdlegislature.gov/api/Documents/308565.pdf; Steph Sherer, Ams. for Safe Access, State Preparedness for Federal Cannabis & Hemp Regulation 1, 51 (Oct. 13, 2026), https://mylrc.sdlegislature.gov/api/Documents/308407.pdf.
24. Kevin A. Sabet, Written Testimony 1 (Oct. 13, 2026), https://mylrc.sdlegislature.gov/api/Documents/308388.pdf.
25. Id. at 2.
26. Sabet, Spoken Remarks, supra note 22, at 9–10.
27. Sabet, Written Testimony, supra note 24, at 7–8; see also Sabet, Spoken Remarks, supra note 22, at 7–8.
28. S.D. Legis. Rsch. Council, Medical Marijuana Oversight Committee 2026 Hearing Documents (viewed Oct. 26, 2026), https://sdlegislature.gov/api/Documents/InterimCommittee/501.
29. Guest Register, supra note 23, at 1.
30. Aaron B. Cooper, Handout 2 1 (Oct. 13, 2026), https://mylrc.sdlegislature.gov/api/Documents/308353.pdf.
31. S.D. Legis. Rsch. Council, Medical Marijuana Oversight Committee, Minutes: July 14, 2022, at 4–5, https://mylrc.sdlegislature.gov/api/Documents/237390.pdf; Oct. 25, 2022, at 2–3, https://mylrc.sdlegislature.gov/api/Documents/238887.pdf; Aug. 21, 2023, at 7, 10, https://mylrc.sdlegislature.gov/api/Documents/254485.pdf; Nov. 6, 2023, at 2, https://mylrc.sdlegislature.gov/api/Documents/267462.pdf; Aug. 19, 2024, at 4, https://mylrc.sdlegislature.gov/api/Documents/268708.pdf (Murphy only); Oct. 28, 2024, at 2–3, https://mylrc.sdlegislature.gov/api/Documents/272465.pdf; Aug. 19, 2025, at 2, https://mylrc.sdlegislature.gov/api/Documents/285794.pdf; Oct. 22, 2025, at 2, https://mylrc.sdlegislature.gov/api/Documents/287309.pdf; Nov. 4, 2025, at 2, 4, https://mylrc.sdlegislature.gov/api/Documents/287684.pdf; Aug. 17, 2026, at 1, https://mylrc.sdlegislature.gov/api/Documents/307282.pdf (Jeffries only).
32. Minutes (Nov. 4, 2025), supra note 15, at 2, 4.
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