WeedPress: The Paper Trail

DEA’s Oct. 30 list shows 10 South Dakota manufacturer entries and two distributor entries, against 44 state cultivation and manufacturing licenses. Those counts do not show that any business missed out, but DEA’s rule, its guidance and South Dakota’s structure leave open questions about growers, distributors and the state’s one testing lab.

By Jason Karimi, Publisher

Authority labels (what these mean): [Effective regulation] 21 C.F.R. § 1301.13(a), (k) (federal; paragraph (k) effective Apr. 28, 2026); ARSD 44:90:06:01 and 44:90:09:01 (S.D.; amended text of 44:90:06:01 effective Nov. 5, 2026). [Enacted statute] SDCL § 34-20G-1 (S.D.). [Agency guidance] DEA’s Oct. 30, 2026 guidance, which DEA says does not bind the public, and its timely-applicant list; the S.D. Department of Health’s establishments list (Nov. 2, 2026). [WeedPress analysis] The supply-chain questions section.

Drug Enforcement Administration guidance says businesses that applied on time for federal registration are expected to verify their trading partners and “establish compliant supply chains no later than November 29, 2026.” The same guidance says those applicants and DEA registrants may not engage in Schedule III medical marijuana activities with entities that are neither timely applicants nor DEA registrants.¹ DEA’s list of timely-applicant entries, dated Oct. 30, shows 10 South Dakota manufacturer entries and two distributor entries.² The state’s Nov. 2 list shows 30 registered cultivation facilities, 14 product manufacturers, 63 dispensaries and one testing lab.³

Those counts don’t show that any South Dakota business failed to apply, applied late or was denied. DEA’s list has no business names, and the two lists measure different things.²,³ But the rule text and DEA’s guidance leave several questions open for a state whose growers and manufacturers may sell directly to dispensaries under state law, and whose program has one listed testing lab.³,⁴ This article sets out what DEA’s guidance says, what the regulation says, and where the two don’t settle how South Dakota’s supply chain fits. It is analysis, not a prediction of shortages.

WeedPress reported on Oct. 31 on the gap between DEA’s list and the state’s dispensary count.⁵

What DEA’s guidance says

On Oct. 30, DEA’s Diversion Control Division posted a four-page document titled “DEA Medical Marijuana Timely Applicant Information.”¹ It covers businesses that applied under 21 C.F.R. 1301.13(k), the registration process that accompanied the April 2026 rescheduling order. The Treasury Department described that order as placing marijuana “subject to a state medical marijuana license” in Schedule III.⁶

Who counts as a timely applicant. The guidance says that to be a “Timely Applicant,” “the applicant must have submitted payment of the applicable registration fee as well as a completed application between April 28, 2026, to June 26, 2026.”¹ The regulation allows an applicant under that subsection that applied within 60 days of the rule’s publication to operate “in conformity with a state-issued license during the pendency of the application.”⁶

Permitted trading partners. The guidance says timely applicants “can engage in schedule III medical marijuana activities with other Timely Applicants,” and with “DEA registrants that hold a registration to handle schedule III medical marijuana.”¹ It then draws the line:

“Timely Applicants and DEA registrants may not lawfully engage in any schedule III medical marijuana activities with entities that did not complete an application for DEA registration between April 28, 2026, to June 26, 2026, or that have not applied for a DEA schedule III medical marijuana registration, until those entities become DEA registrants.”¹

Engaging in Schedule III medical marijuana activities with entities outside those categories, the guidance says, “could be potential grounds for denial of a Timely Applicant’s application or revocation of a certificate of registration, respectively.”¹ It lists minimum due-diligence steps: getting a trading partner’s DEA submission confirmation and “verifying the Timely Applicant’s document control number (DCN) via the DEA Diversion Control Website,” getting a registrant’s DEA certificate, “[o]btaining a copy of the entity’s relevant state license and verifying its status is active,” and “[m]aintaining records of all due diligence conducted.”¹

The Nov. 29 date. DEA says timely applicants “may require additional time to verify the status of their existing trading partners,” and that they “are expected to complete these activities and establish compliant supply chains no later than November 29, 2026.”¹ The guidance does not say that transactions before that date are automatically compliant.

Existing inventory. The guidance says “Timely Dispenser Applicants and Timely Distributor Applicants may continue to possess, dispense, and distribute existing inventories of schedule III medical marijuana acquired prior to the issuance of this information, including inventory previously obtained from entities that do not qualify as Timely Applicants or DEA registrants.”¹ The sentence names dispenser and distributor applicants. It does not mention manufacturer applicants, and it does not say whether a dispensary that has since been granted a registration is still covered. WeedPress has not found DEA guidance that answers either point.

The guidance is not a rule. It ends: “The contents of this document do not have the force and effect of law and are not meant to bind the public in any way.”¹

How South Dakota’s structure lines up with DEA’s categories

The regulation creates three registration types for state medical marijuana licensees: manufacturer, distributor and dispenser.⁷ There is no separate cultivation category. Instead, the rule says “[a] registered marijuana manufacturer may cultivate, produce, process, package, label, and transfer marijuana and products containing marijuana to registered distributors or other registered manufacturers, subject to the limitations of its state license.”⁷ Each manufacturer registration “shall specify the areas in which marijuana cultivation is permitted.”⁸ In WeedPress’s reading of the rule’s text, a South Dakota cultivation facility seeking federal registration appears most likely to fit the manufacturer category. WeedPress has not found DEA guidance addressing that point directly.

South Dakota’s licensing structure is different. It licenses four kinds of establishments: cultivation facilities, product manufacturers, dispensaries and testing labs.⁴ A cultivation facility may sell “cannabis and related supplies to a medical cannabis establishment,” and a manufacturer may sell “cannabis products to a medical cannabis dispensary.”⁴ South Dakota has no separate wholesale or distributor license. Under state law, growers and manufacturers may sell to dispensaries directly.

DEA’s rule describes transfers involving distributors. It says a registered manufacturer may transfer to “registered distributors or other registered manufacturers,” and that “[a] registered distributor may receive marijuana and products containing marijuana from registered manufacturers and transfer marijuana and products containing marijuana to registered dispensers or other registered distributors.”⁷ The manufacturer paragraph doesn’t list transfers to dispensers. The rule also says “[a] single entity may be granted multiple types of registrations.”⁷ DEA’s guidance uses the same chain in its example: “a Timely Distributor Applicant can distribute schedule III medical marijuana to a Timely Dispenser Applicant and can obtain schedule III medical marijuana from a Timely Manufacturer Applicant.”¹

What that means under the federal registration rules for a South Dakota grower selling directly to a dispensary is not clear from the text. For timely applicants, the guidance says they may manufacture or distribute “pursuant to [their] state medical marijuana license during the pendency of the application,” “as applicable.”¹ It doesn’t say whether a timely manufacturer applicant may keep delivering to dispensaries, as South Dakota law allows, or whether that will require a distributor registration once DEA acts. Separately, the general federal registration table lets a registered manufacturer “distribute that substance or class for which registration was issued.”⁹ WeedPress has not found language in the rule or the guidance saying whether that general provision applies to subsection (k) medical marijuana registrants. WeedPress has asked DEA questions about South Dakota’s manufacturer and distributor applications (see below).

DEA’s Oct. 30 list has two South Dakota distributor entries.² DEA’s list doesn’t say who filed them or whether the same businesses also filed as manufacturers.

The counts, and their limits

Category	South Dakota Department of Health list (Nov. 2, 2026)	DEA timely-applicant list, South Dakota (Oct. 30, 2026)
Cultivation	30	no separate category
Product manufacturing	14	10 manufacturer entries
Distributor	no state license class	2 entries
Dispensary	63	43 entries
Testing lab	1	not covered by § 1301.13(k)(7), according to DEA guidance

Sources: WeedPress tabulations of the state and DEA lists; DEA guidance for the testing-lab row.¹,²,³

The comparison has limits. License counts are not business counts. By WeedPress’s count of legal names on the state list, the 44 cultivation and manufacturing licenses are held under 38 different names: five names each hold both a cultivation and a manufacturing license, and one holds two cultivation licenses.³ WeedPress has not found language in the rule saying whether one manufacturer application can cover more than one licensed location.⁷ DEA’s list says it “may change as Timely Applicants are granted DEA registrations, withdraw their applications for DEA registration, or are no longer considered Timely Applicants for any other reason,” and WeedPress has not found a DEA statement saying whether businesses granted registrations Oct. 30 had already been removed from the Oct. 30 file.² WeedPress has asked DEA. The state list is more than two months older than DEA’s. The Justice Department said the first registrations, announced Oct. 30, were for dispensaries, and that manufacturer and distributor applications “require additional review, including facility inspections, production controls, and quota determinations.”¹⁰

What the counts do show is that, on DEA’s list, South Dakota has fewer manufacturer and distributor entries than dispensary entries: 12 manufacturer and distributor entries, compared with 43 dispensary entries.²

The testing lab

South Dakota requires every batch of cannabis or cannabis product intended for retail sale to be tested “prior to transfer.”¹¹ The state list shows one testing establishment, in Flandreau.³ WeedPress reported Oct. 26 that the program had two listed labs a year earlier.¹²

DEA’s guidance treats labs separately. A footnote says: “Analytical laboratories are not covered by 21 CFR 1301.13(k)(7) and therefore remain subject to 21 CFR 1301.13(a).”¹ That section says “[n]o person required to be registered shall engage in any activity for which registration is required until the application for registration is granted.”¹³ In other words, DEA’s guidance says analytical laboratories are not covered by the timely-applicant provision in § 1301.13(k)(7). A trade publication reported that DEA opened its online Form 225 application for medical marijuana manufacturers, distributors and analytical labs on Oct. 5.¹⁴

The guidance then makes a limited exception. DEA “does not intend to penalize registrants and Timely Applicants for sending de minimis quantities of schedule III medical marijuana to a laboratory that is not DEA-registered to conduct analytical testing of schedule III medical marijuana, provided that (1) the analytical laboratory is located in the same state, and (2) the Timely Applicant/registrant retains detailed records of all such distributions.”¹ But it says the exception “applies only when the use of a DEA-registered laboratory would violate state law,” and “only to the extent that either (1) no entities anywhere in the United States are registered with DEA to conduct analytical testing of schedule III medical marijuana, or (2) state law prohibits the Timely Applicant/registrant from sending schedule III medical marijuana to an analytical laboratory in a different state, and no entities in the Timely Applicant/registrant’s state are registered with DEA to conduct analytical testing of schedule III medical marijuana.”¹ It adds that the guidance “does not permit Timely Applicants and registrants to receive schedule III medical marijuana from non-DEA-registered analytical laboratories.”¹

South Dakota’s rules already say “[a] cannabis testing facility shall register with the Drug Enforcement Agency pursuant to 21 C.F.R. § 1301.13,” citing the June 28, 2021, version of that section, which predates the April 2026 order.¹⁵ WeedPress covered that requirement on Sept. 22.¹⁶ The state establishments list, DEA’s timely-applicant list and DEA’s Diversion Control registration pages do not show whether South Dakota’s listed lab holds a DEA registration that covers Schedule III medical marijuana.³,²,¹⁷ WeedPress has not found a DEA-published list of labs registered for that testing. WeedPress also has not found a South Dakota provision that expressly addresses sending samples to a lab in another state; state law defines a testing facility as “an independent entity registered with the department.”⁴ Whether the exception applies in South Dakota therefore appears to depend on facts WeedPress has not confirmed from the public records reviewed.

Supply-chain questions raised by the documents

This section is WeedPress’s analysis of the documents above. It is not a prediction, and no source cited here says South Dakota patients will lose access.

• Fewer supplier entries. If a South Dakota grower or manufacturer is not a timely applicant or registrant, the guidance says timely applicants and DEA registrants may not engage in Schedule III medical marijuana activities with it, and that doing so “could be” grounds for denial or revocation.¹ Because South Dakota law allows dispensaries to buy directly from in-state growers and manufacturers, any such supplier could present a compliance issue for a dispensary it supplies.⁴ WeedPress has not found public records showing whether any South Dakota supplier is in that position.
• The grower-to-dispensary step. If DEA ultimately requires a distributor registration for transfers to dispensaries, South Dakota businesses using the direct grower- and manufacturer-to-dispensary transfers allowed by state law may need one. The rule allows one entity to hold several registration types.⁷ What DEA will require is not settled by the text.
• Testing. South Dakota lists one lab, and every batch must be tested before transfer.³,¹¹ The documents reviewed do not show how the lab’s federal status fits DEA’s guidance.
• Inventory. The existing-inventory sentence could affect the transition for dispensaries that are timely applicants.¹ The guidance does not address how long existing stock lasts or whether dispensaries that have since been granted registrations are covered by the existing-inventory sentence.
• Enforcement posture. DEA says the guidance doesn’t bind the public, and that dealing with a non-qualifying partner “could be” grounds for denial or revocation.¹ That leaves room for DEA discretion. It does not say how DEA will exercise it.

What patients and operators can do

Operators. DEA’s guidance lists the steps it expects: collect each partner’s DEA submission confirmation or registration certificate, check the partner’s DCN on DEA’s Diversion Control website, confirm the partner’s state license is active, and keep records.¹ DEA posts the list as a text file and says “[t]he file will be updated daily.”² Businesses with questions about their own status can contact DEA registration support at 1-800-882-9539 or DEA.Registration.Help@dea.gov, as listed on the Diversion Control website.¹⁷ Nothing here is legal advice.

Patients. The supply-chain guidance is directed at businesses, not patients.¹ The federal rule separately sets requirements for a state medical certification used for dispensing, including that it is “dated as of, and signed on, the day when issued” and names the patient and the certifying practitioner.¹⁸ Patients with questions can ask their dispensary how it is handling the Nov. 29 guidance and whether it is a DEA timely applicant or registrant. The state Department of Health’s Medical Cannabis Program takes questions at MCQuestions@state.sd.us.³

Questions sent to DEA and DOH

WeedPress sent DEA and the South Dakota Department of Health questions on these topics, with a deadline of 5 p.m. Central on Nov. 4.¹⁹ WeedPress asked DEA, among other things, about the status of South Dakota manufacturer and distributor applications and whether the 55 South Dakota entries on its list represent all South Dakota timely applicants. WeedPress asked the department whether DEA has contacted it to verify registrations, whether it knows how many establishments applied or were registered, and whether it plans guidance on the Nov. 29 date. DEA’s Media Affairs office sent only automated acknowledgments. Neither DEA nor the department had answered as of Nov. 5, 2026.¹⁹ WeedPress will add any answers it receives.