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Related: 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’s amended medical cannabis rules take effect today, Nov. 5. The Oct. 26 South Dakota Register lists amendments to 35 sections of the Department of Health’s rules, Administrative Rules of South Dakota (ARSD) Article 44:90, as filed Oct. 16 and effective Nov. 5.¹ Secretary of Health Melissa Magstadt’s certificate lists the same sections.² The Interim Rules Review Committee voted 6–0 on Oct. 14 that its review of the rules was complete; that vote is a separate step from the Oct. 16 filing from which the Nov. 5 date runs.¹ ³

Most of the package is aimed at businesses: security cameras, waste, transport manifests, lab procedures and penalties. WeedPress covered the penalty changes on Oct. 27.³ This article covers the provisions that reach cardholders and caregivers directly.

At a glance

• Home growers get one registry card authorizing cultivation, which they must carry while growing. The two-part card, with one half posted on the grow-room door, is gone.⁶
• Caregivers now destroy cards instead of returning them. The old 15-day return window is gone when a patient removes a caregiver or a grow designation, or dies. Caregivers who step down also must “immediately destroy” the card.⁷
• Edibles may contain up to 100 milligrams of THC per serving, up from 50. The 500-milligram package limit does not change.⁸
• A proposed under-21 home-grow ban was dropped.⁹ Age-restricted cardholders (those under 18, or students described in § 24:80:02:07) still may not grow, but they may have a designated caregiver grow for them unless they are nonresidents.¹⁰
• Unchanged: the 3-ounce possession limit and its product-equivalency table, and the dollar amounts of card fees.¹¹,¹²

Home growers: one cultivation card, carried while cultivating

Under the rule in effect until Nov. 5, the department issued a “two-part registry identification card” to anyone authorized to grow. One part had to be “posted on the door of the enclosed, locked facility” and the other carried.¹³

The new text replaces that with “a registry identification card authorizing cultivation” for “each qualifying patient or designated caregiver designated to cultivate.” The patient or each caregiver “shall carry the registry identification card authorizing cultivation while cultivating cannabis or otherwise engaging in cultivation activities.”¹⁴ The application requirements stay the same: a diagram and photographs of the enclosed, locked grow space, and the fee.¹⁵

The department’s August draft would also have barred any patient under 21 from growing or having a caregiver grow for them.¹⁶ LRC’s code counsel questioned the statutory authority for that change, as WeedPress reported in September.¹⁷ After public comment, the department wrote in its hearing minutes: “The Department made the decision to strike sections restricting home cultivation for individuals under age 21.”¹⁸ The Oct. 7 text keeps the existing sentence: an age-restricted cardholder “may not cultivate cannabis but may, unless a nonresident, designate a designated caregiver to cultivate cannabis on the patient’s behalf.”¹⁹ The rules define an age-restricted cardholder as a cardholder or nonresident cardholder “who is under eighteen years of age or who is a student as described in § 24:80:02:07.”²⁰

The department also did not adopt a commenter’s request to require home growers to document a monitored alarm system. Its response: “Home cultivators submit documentation of a lock on the door. The Department believes this to be sufficient at this time.”²¹

Caregivers: destroy the card, immediately

Four sections on changes in caregiver arrangements now use the same instruction: destroy the card at once instead of returning it.²²

• When a patient removes a caregiver, the removed caregiver “shall immediately destroy the registry identification card associated with that patient.”²³ The old rule gave 15 days “to return” it.²⁴
• When a patient removes a caregiver’s designation to grow, the caregiver must, “immediately after receiving notice,” destroy the card and any plants and cannabis produced from them. The old rule said “within 15 days.”²⁵
• When a caregiver quits, the caregiver must “immediately destroy” the card upon submitting notice. The old rule said “return.”²⁶
• When a patient dies, the caregiver must “immediately destroy” the card. The old rule said return it to the department within 15 days. The requirement to destroy any plants and cannabis “if applicable” remains.²⁷

A commenter asked the department to keep a short window “for the caregiver or family to safely dispose of the remaining cannabis, plants, and cannabis products, especially after a patient death.” The department answered that “returning cards is not part of the process” and that “[c]ards should be destroyed immediately to avoid theft or unauthorized use. No changes made.”²⁸

The text also drops the word “substitute” from the two change-of-designation rules. Patients may now “remove, or add” caregivers “in accordance with this section.” Adding a caregiver still requires an application under § 44:90:02:04, and adding a caregiver to cultivate still requires an application under § 44:90:02:07.²⁹

Card fees: same amounts, rewritten section

The amended fee rule keeps the dollar figures: $20 for a low-income patient, $75 for other applicants, $20 for a designated caregiver card and an additional $20 for a card authorizing cultivation. Fees remain nonrefundable.³⁰

Two changes in the wording could matter to some cardholders:

• Nonresidents. The old rule set the $20/$75 schedule for “a resident of South Dakota” and separately said “[n]onresidents shall submit a $75 fee.”³¹ The new text applies the same schedule to “a resident or a nonresident.”³² The section does not say how the department would determine low-income status for a nonresident.
• Caregiver cards at application. The old rule charged $20 for a caregiver card “except for the designation of a designated caregiver at the time of the initial or renewal application.”³³ That exception is struck. The new text says only that the caregiver card application fee “is twenty dollars.”³⁴

The public hearing minutes record no comments on the fee section.³⁵ WeedPress found no department explanation of either wording change in the rulemaking record it reviewed.

Edibles: 100 milligrams per serving

The old rule barred manufacturers from making any edible, other than a tincture, oil or capsule, with “more than fifty milligrams” of THC per serving.³⁶ The new text says “one hundred milligrams.”³⁷ The 500-milligram cap on total THC in an edible’s marketing layer is unchanged.³⁸

At the Oct. 14 Interim Rules Review Committee meeting, Sen. Taffy Howard asked about the increase. According to the committee’s minutes, Whitney Brunner, the department’s Office of Medical Cannabis administrator, “said the revision was to address a conflict with another rule, reflecting the higher amount that is the industry standard.”³⁹ The packaging rule for edibles already allows single servings to be bundled “so long as the total amount of active tetrahydrocannabinol per serving does not exceed one hundred milligrams,” and caps multiple-serving containers at 500 milligrams.⁴⁰

The same section also changes the testing language, barring manufacturing with cannabis that has “failed” a required test, “except cannabis or concentrated cannabis that may be remediated pursuant to this article.”⁴¹ The old text said “has not passed.”⁴²

Lab reports must disclose decontamination

The Oct. 7 text adds to the remediation rule: “The Certificate of Analysis shall indicate if cannabis and cannabis products have been subjected to any type of decontamination or pretreatment prior to initial testing under § 44:90:09:01 or remediation after initial testing.”⁴³ After industry and lab comments, the department struck a proposed decontamination provision in § 44:90:09:02(4) as redundant, said it had updated § 44:90:09:11 to require this disclosure, and added disclosure of remediation “[f]or consistency.”⁴⁴

A certificate of analysis is the lab’s report to the grower or manufacturer.⁴⁵ WeedPress found no provision in the Oct. 7 text requiring dispensaries to show it to patients.

The department also dropped a proposal to require finished pre-rolls to be retested. It agreed with commenters that the change “creates duplicative testing requirements.”⁴⁶

At dispensaries and other establishments

• Who may enter. The access rule still lets people enter as permitted by SDCL 34-20G-65 or § 44:90:08:01, the dispensary rule that governs cardholder entry.⁴⁷,⁴⁸ The list of other people who may enter now also names members of the Legislature and licensed physicians, physician assistants and advanced practice registered nurses.⁴⁹,⁵⁰
• Visitors. Any permitted visitor who is not an establishment agent or a department employee with an official state badge must get a visitor badge, stay under an agent’s direct supervision around cannabis and be logged. No visitor other than a department agent may handle cannabis.⁵¹ The August draft would have added a tenth category of permitted entrants, “[o]ther individuals that have received prior approval by the department.”⁵² The department removed it, agreeing with a commenter that “the option to request permission from the Department for visitors is burdensome.”⁵³
• Staff training. Dispensary staff still must be trained to check card authenticity and photo ID, use the verification system and track purchases. The old fifth item, training to “[v]erify that the dispensary has been designated to make sales to the patient or the patient’s designated caregiver,” is struck.⁵⁴,⁵⁵

What nonresidents should know

The department had proposed deleting the sentence that limits a nonresident’s registry number to “no more than two dispensaries, which must be designated by the nonresident cardholder at the time of registration.”⁵⁶ At the hearing, a patient advocate and a representative of a cannabis business argued for broader access for out-of-state patients. The department responded: “The Department made the decision to no longer pursue changes to this rule. Rule has been removed from this rules package.”⁵⁷ Section 44:90:02:15, including the two-dispensary limit,⁵⁸ is not among the 35 sections listed in the Register.⁵⁹ The Interim Rules Review Committee’s minutes record the department as removing “44:90:02:14 and 44:90:03:16” from the package “pending further review.” The department’s proposed package did not amend § 44:90:02:14; WeedPress reported the discrepancy on Oct. 27.³ ³⁹

WeedPress found no department explanation in the rulemaking record it reviewed of how the deletion of the dispensary-designation training item in § 44:90:08:03 relates to that two-dispensary limit.

What did not change

• Possession limits. The package strikes the definition of “equivalent cannabis weight” from the definitions section.⁶⁰ LRC recommended the deletion because the term is “more granularly defined” in § 44:90:02:16.⁶¹ That section, which sets the 3-ounce total and the equivalency table (for example, one ounce equals 8 grams of concentrated cannabis in smokable form or 2,000 milligrams of THC in edibles),⁶² was not amended.⁶³
• Fee amounts, as described above.⁶⁴
• Practitioner certifications. Section 44:90:02:01, which sets what a practitioner’s written certification must contain, is not in the package.⁶⁵

The program had 20,040 approved patients and 631 caregivers in the department’s September report.⁶⁶

What remains open

When WeedPress checked Oct. 27, the filed text had not been posted on the rules portal.⁶⁷ The Register and the certificate list “44:90:09:07.”⁶⁸,⁶⁹ The department’s August and October drafts both amend § 44:90:09:07.01, the sample rule; the October draft keeps that section’s other edits but drops the pre-roll retest.⁷⁰,⁷¹ WeedPress will compare the filed text when it is posted, and will update this article if it differs from the Oct. 7 version.

Related coverage

• South Dakota’s New Lab Rules Take Effect With One Testing Lab Listed
• After the Canvass: The Cannabis Math in South Dakota’s 2027 Legislature
• South Dakota’s Revised Medical Cannabis Rules Take Effect Nov. 5; Department’s Latest Posted Version Omits Two Proposed Corrective-Action Penalty Sentences
• 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
• How to File a Written Comment on South Dakota’s 38-Rule Medical Cannabis Package
• South Dakota Had Two Medical Cannabis Testing Labs. Now It Has One. Nobody Has Explained Why.
• Health Department Tells Lawmakers South Dakota’s $20 Home-Grow Law Is Too Thin to Police — and Tightening It Raises Safety Questions

Notes

¹ Final Administrative Rules, 53 S.D. Reg. 56 (Oct. 26, 2026), https://mylrc.sdlegislature.gov/api/Documents/Register/308659.pdf.

² S.D. Dep’t of Health, Certificate (Form 13), ARSD art. 44:90 (Oct. 2026), https://rules.sd.gov/Uploads/970_Certificate.pdf.

³ Jason Karimi, South Dakota’s Revised Medical Cannabis Rules Take Effect Nov. 5; Department’s Latest Posted Version Omits Two Proposed Corrective-Action Penalty Sentences, WeedPress (Oct. 27, 2026), https://weedpress.org/2026/10/27/south-dakota-revised-medical-cannabis-rules-take-effect-nov-5-44-90/.

⁴ S.D. Dep’t of Health, Office of Medical Cannabis, Rule Detail, rules.sd.gov (“Adopted Rules” button disabled; last visited Oct. 27, 2026), https://rules.sd.gov/detail?Id=970.

⁵ S.D. Dep’t of Health, Latest Version of Rule (w/amendments), ARSD art. 44:90 (Oct. 7, 2026), https://rules.sd.gov/Uploads/970_AdminsOriginalDraft.pdf.

⁶ Id. § 44:90:02:07.

⁷ Id. §§ 44:90:02:10–:13.

⁸ Id. § 44:90:07:04.

⁹ S.D. Dep’t of Health, Minutes of Public Hearing (Form 10), ARSD art. 44:90 (hearing held Sept. 23, 2026) (with public comments), https://rules.sd.gov/Uploads/970_AgencyHearingMin.pdf.

¹⁰ Oct. 7 Latest Version, supra note 5, § 44:90:02:07.

¹¹ S.D. Admin. R. 44:90:02:16 (2025) (version in effect before Nov. 5, 2026, viewed Oct. 27, 2026), https://sdlegislature.gov/Rules/Administrative/44:90:02:16, archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20261027224844/https://sdlegislature.gov/api/Rules/44:90:02:16.html.

¹² Oct. 7 Latest Version, supra note 5, § 44:90:02:17.

¹³ S.D. Admin. R. 44:90:02:07 (2025) (version in effect before Nov. 5, 2026, viewed Oct. 27, 2026), https://sdlegislature.gov/Rules/Administrative/44:90:02:07, archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20261027224415/https://sdlegislature.gov/api/Rules/44:90:02:07.html.

¹⁴ Oct. 7 Latest Version, supra note 5, § 44:90:02:07.

¹⁵ Id.

¹⁶ S.D. Dep’t of Health, Proposed Rules, ARSD art. 44:90 (Aug. 21, 2026), § 44:90:02:07, https://rules.sd.gov/Uploads/970_OrginalDraftRules.pdf.

¹⁷ 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/.

¹⁸ Form 10 Minutes, supra note 9.

¹⁹ Oct. 7 Latest Version, supra note 5, § 44:90:02:07.

²⁰ Id. § 44:90:01:01(2).

²¹ Form 10 Minutes, supra note 9.

²² Oct. 7 Latest Version, supra note 5, §§ 44:90:02:10–:13.

²³ Id. § 44:90:02:10.

²⁴ S.D. Admin. R. 44:90:02:10 (2025) (version in effect before Nov. 5, 2026, viewed Oct. 27, 2026), https://sdlegislature.gov/Rules/Administrative/44:90:02:10, archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20261027223326/https://sdlegislature.gov/api/Rules/44:90:02:10.html.

²⁵ Oct. 7 Latest Version, supra note 5, § 44:90:02:11.

²⁶ Id. § 44:90:02:12.

²⁷ Id. § 44:90:02:13.

²⁸ Form 10 Minutes, supra note 9.

²⁹ Oct. 7 Latest Version, supra note 5, §§ 44:90:02:10–:11.

³⁰ Id. § 44:90:02:17.

³¹ S.D. Admin. R. 44:90:02:17 (2025) (version in effect before Nov. 5, 2026, viewed Oct. 27, 2026), https://sdlegislature.gov/Rules/Administrative/44:90:02:17, archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20261027223512/https://sdlegislature.gov/api/Rules/44:90:02:17.html.

³² Oct. 7 Latest Version, supra note 5, § 44:90:02:17.

³³ S.D. Admin. R. 44:90:02:17, supra note 31.

³⁴ Oct. 7 Latest Version, supra note 5, § 44:90:02:17.

³⁵ Form 10 Minutes, supra note 9.

³⁶ S.D. Admin. R. 44:90:07:04 (2025) (version in effect before Nov. 5, 2026, viewed Oct. 27, 2026), https://sdlegislature.gov/Rules/Administrative/44:90:07:04, archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20261027224038/https://sdlegislature.gov/api/Rules/44:90:07:04.html.

³⁷ Oct. 7 Latest Version, supra note 5, § 44:90:07:04(3).

³⁸ Id. § 44:90:07:04(4).

³⁹ Interim Rules Review Comm., Minutes 8–9 (S.D. Oct. 14, 2026), https://mylrc.sdlegislature.gov/api/Documents/308282.pdf.

⁴⁰ S.D. Admin. R. 44:90:10:03 (2025) (version in effect before Nov. 5, 2026, viewed Oct. 27, 2026), https://sdlegislature.gov/Rules/Administrative/44:90:10:03, archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20261027224342/https://sdlegislature.gov/api/Rules/44:90:10:03.html.

⁴¹ Oct. 7 Latest Version, supra note 5, § 44:90:07:04(8).

⁴² S.D. Admin. R. 44:90:07:04, supra note 36.

⁴³ Oct. 7 Latest Version, supra note 5, § 44:90:09:11.

⁴⁴ Form 10 Minutes, supra note 9.

⁴⁵ Oct. 7 Latest Version, supra note 5, § 44:90:06:07.

⁴⁶ Form 10 Minutes, supra note 9.

⁴⁷ Oct. 7 Latest Version, supra note 5, § 44:90:04:13.

⁴⁸ S.D. Admin. R. 44:90:08:01 (2025) (version in effect before Nov. 5, 2026, viewed Oct. 27, 2026), https://sdlegislature.gov/Rules/Administrative/44:90:08:01, archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20261027224127/https://sdlegislature.gov/api/Rules/44:90:08:01.html.

⁴⁹ Oct. 7 Latest Version, supra note 5, § 44:90:04:13.

⁵⁰ S.D. Admin. R. 44:90:04:13 (2025) (version in effect before Nov. 5, 2026, viewed Oct. 27, 2026), https://sdlegislature.gov/Rules/Administrative/44:90:04:13, archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20261027225243/https://sdlegislature.gov/api/Rules/44:90:04:13.html.

⁵¹ Oct. 7 Latest Version, supra note 5, § 44:90:04:14.

⁵² Proposed Rules, supra note 16, § 44:90:04:13(10).

⁵³ Form 10 Minutes, supra note 9.

⁵⁴ Oct. 7 Latest Version, supra note 5, § 44:90:08:03.

⁵⁵ S.D. Admin. R. 44:90:08:03 (2025) (version in effect before Nov. 5, 2026, viewed Oct. 27, 2026), https://sdlegislature.gov/Rules/Administrative/44:90:08:03, archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20261027224216/https://sdlegislature.gov/api/Rules/44:90:08:03.html.

⁵⁶ Proposed Rules, supra note 16, § 44:90:02:15.

⁵⁷ Form 10 Minutes, supra note 9.

⁵⁸ S.D. Admin. R. 44:90:02:15 (2025) (version in effect before Nov. 5, 2026, viewed Oct. 27, 2026), https://sdlegislature.gov/Rules/Administrative/44:90:02:15, archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20261027224634/https://sdlegislature.gov/api/Rules/44:90:02:15.html.

⁵⁹ 53 S.D. Reg. 56, supra note 1.

⁶⁰ Oct. 7 Latest Version, supra note 5, § 44:90:01:01.

⁶¹ 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.

⁶² S.D. Admin. R. 44:90:02:16, supra note 11.

⁶³ 53 S.D. Reg. 56, supra note 1.

⁶⁴ Oct. 7 Latest Version, supra note 5, § 44:90:02:17.

⁶⁵ 53 S.D. Reg. 56, supra note 1.

⁶⁶ S.D. Dep’t of Health, September 2026 Medical Cannabis Data (Oct. 1, 2026), https://doh.sd.gov/media/1ludswqx/mc-september-data.pdf.

⁶⁷ Rule Detail, supra note 4.

⁶⁸ 53 S.D. Reg. 56, supra note 1.

⁶⁹ Form 13 Certificate, supra note 2.

⁷⁰ Oct. 7 Latest Version, supra note 5, § 44:90:09:07.01.

⁷¹ Form 10 Minutes, supra note 9.