Featured Analysis
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Nebraska Built a Medical Cannabis Program That Sells Nothing Patients Can Actually Use
Nebraska voters approved a medical cannabis law that lets qualified patients possess up to five ounces. The Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission then adopted permanent rules that ban several familiar forms of medical cannabis, including flower, vaping products, and infused foods, while the regulated supply chain remains incomplete.¹ Under the permanent rules approved by the Attorney…
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Iowa Proposes State Schedule III Placement for Qualifying Medical Marijuana Products. South Dakota Still Has a Separate Scheduling Question.
Iowa’s Board of Pharmacy is proposing to temporarily place certain medical marijuana products in Schedule III under the Iowa Controlled Substances Act, following the federal government’s April 28 rescheduling order.¹ The proposal, published September 30 as Regulatory Analysis RA 26-323, would add qualifying marijuana, marijuana extracts, and naturally derived delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinols to Iowa’s Schedule III when…
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South Dakota’s Attorney General Answered the Schedule III Question. The Department of Health Still Has Its Own Statute to Answer.
Official Opinion 26-06 concludes that the April 28, 2026 federal order moving certain state-licensed medical marijuana to Schedule III will likely have a negligible impact on South Dakota’s medical-marijuana program.¹ The opinion finds that 21 C.F.R. § 1301.13(k) supplies a registration pathway for manufacturers, distributors, and dispensers holding a qualifying state license, and that federal…
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South Dakota Attorney General Says Federal Schedule III Has “Negligible Impact” on State Medical Program; MMOC Receives Patient and Advocacy Materials
The Legislative Research Council posted the packet for the Medical Marijuana Oversight Committee’s October 13 meeting in Room 362 of the State Capitol. Among the materials are Official Opinion 26-06 from Attorney General Marty Jackley, a 72-page presentation from Americans for Safe Access, three handouts from patient Aaron B. Cooper, and the Department of Health’s…
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South Dakota Attorney General Publishes Opinion Concerning Impact Of Federal Rescheduling
https://atg.sd.gov/OurOffice/OfficialOpinions/opinionhtml.aspx?id=1779#gsc.tab=0 OFFICIAL OPINION No. 26-06 Official Opinion Concerning Impact of Federal Rescheduling of Marijuana October 6, 2026 Senator John CarleySouth Dakota State SenatorVice Chair, Medical Marijuana Oversight Committee500 E. Capitol Ave.Pierre, SD 57501Via email: john.carley@sdlegislature.gov OFFICIAL OPINION 26-06 Re: Official Opinion Concerning Impact of Federal Rescheduling of Marijuana Dear Vice Chair Carley, In your capacity…
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I’m Going Back to Senator Thune’s Sioux Falls Office. This Time I’m Bringing the Schedule III Question.
A new phone-installation job puts me back in the Sioux Falls office where I first asked about federal and state marijuana law. This time, Schedule III is already here. I was hired for another installation job at Senator John Thune’s Sioux Falls office. This time the job is phones.¹ The last time I was in…
Policy
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MMOC Agenda For October 13 2026 Meeting Includes Federal Rescheduling Discussion By AG Office
The discussion continues. Federal and international law matters. All of us need to work together to make the state regulate and implement its own program and laws and not be lead by the Feds without state input. To register to speak during public comment, go here: Register at https://sdlegislature.gov/testify/307903. The form is on the October…
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Authorized Partnerships: Lay Participation in Administrative Process and the South Dakota Cannabis File
A July 2026 working paper by Anthony M. Bertelli treats lay participation in administration as more than a courtesy window on a proposed rule.¹ The claim is institutional, not sentimental. Carefully designed participation, he argues, can function as an “authorized partnership”: a legally structured encounter in which ordinary people help keep public administration tied to…
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South Dakota’s Medical Marijuana Oversight Committee Meets October 13.
The South Dakota Legislature’s public schedule now lists a meeting of the Medical Marijuana Oversight Committee for Tuesday, October 13, 2026, at 11:00 a.m. in Room 362 at the State Capitol in Pierre.¹ For weeks the committee page showed the 2026 roster and the August materials and nothing else.² The date is now on the…
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The Advantage Is Not Knowing More. It Is Knowing What to Do Next.
How mistakes, limited resources, and administrative law taught me to turn public information into decisions. There was a time when I thought the advantage was knowing something other people did not know. I do not think that anymore, after 17 obsessed years studying cannabis law and admin law as best as I can as often…
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Pure Bliss Planned for Medical, Recreational and Expansion. Now Its Tea Dispensary Is Reportedly Closing.
Update 1: Pure Bliss confirmed via phone at the store on 9-27-26 is their last day and they are closing the dispensary permanently. A Reddit tip says the store will close September 27 while Pure Bliss Farms keeps growing. The closure is not yet confirmed—but the company’s original business plan raises a larger question about…
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South Dakota Wants to Rewrite Its Corrective-Action Rule. The Fine Can Still Come With It.
The first article counted the amendments. This one reads the two enforcement sections together. South Dakota’s Department of Health is proposing to replace the first-offense dollar amounts for two categories of medical-cannabis violations with corrective-action plans.¹ That sounds straightforward until the Department’s proposed enforcement provisions are read together. Proposed § 44:90:12:11 says a first Category…
Law
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When the State Certificate Is Suspended, the Federal Registration Is Suspended Too.
#7… The Consequences Page The last page mapped the interfaces. This page names the one interface that already contains an automatic legal mechanism. There is no need to invent a DEA-versus-Health confrontation. A South Dakota administrative action can have an expressly specified consequence for a federal subsection (k) registration.¹ If the state medical-marijuana license is…
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Part 1301 Defers Security to State Law. Article 44:90 Never Mentions Part 1301.
Part 6… The first four pages in this series mapped nouns and desks: cardholder and establishment, four certificates and one federal license, certification and Part 1306, Health and Pharmacy.¹ The emergency-rule page explained what Pierre cannot do with a ninety-day shortcut.² This page is the inspector document. The April 28, 2026 order did not rewrite…
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How to File a Written Comment on South Dakota’s 38-Rule Medical Cannabis Package
South Dakota is rewriting 38 sections of its medical-cannabis regulations. You do not have to be a lawyer, cannabis-business owner, lobbyist, or person sitting in the hearing room in Pierre to put something into the rulemaking record. You can file a written comment. The South Dakota Department of Health filed its proposed amendments to Administrative…
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South Dakota’s Commissioner Could Add, Delete, or Reschedule Drugs in 1970. A 1976 Criminal-Code Revision Replaced That Power With a Recommendation to the Legislature.
Alabama’s health chief said the state’s medical program was already live while marijuana remained Schedule I there, explaining that the medical exemption statute protected people authorized to possess it.¹ South Dakota’s leftover question is different. SDCL § 34-20B-11 still says a substance belongs in Schedule I only if it has a high potential for abuse,…
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Alabama’s Health Chief Said Schedule III Didn’t Change a Live Medical Program. South Dakota Still Has to Explain What “No Accepted Medical Use in the United States” Means After the April Federal Rule.
Alabama’s health chief just put a useful distinction on the record. Dr. Scott Harris said the July comments were not about the consequences of rescheduling. They were people who like medical marijuana and people who do not. Then he said this: “The program’s already live, even though it’s still Schedule I in Alabama. The reason…
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What Does “Accepted Medical Use” Actually Mean? A 40-Year Legal Fight Now Matters in South Dakota
South Dakota law tells the Department of Health when a substance belongs in Schedule I. It does not tell the Department what the key words mean. To be included in Schedule I, a substance must have a high potential for abuse, “no accepted medical use in the United States,” and a lack of accepted safety…
Science
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When Public Advocates Attack Motives Instead of Answering Evidence
Public policy debates should be resolved by evidence, not by assumptions about the motives of the people participating in them. Yet it is common for substantive criticism to be met with claims that the critic is motivated by jealousy, a desire for power, or some other personal grievance rather than by the merits of the…
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Online Workshop – Candidate Vulnerability Assessment
Every candidate enters a race with potential vulnerabilities. These may include previous statements, professional history, financial records, social media activity, personal relationships, policy positions, or inconsistencies in the candidate’s public record. https://leadershipinstitute.org/event/701VL00000xvu8MYAQ Campaigns often devote significant time and resources to researching their opponents while failing to conduct the same level of research on their own…
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Professional Eyes on WeedPress: What an Exiger Referral Means
Analytics occasionally reveal more than pageviews. One recent referral to WeedPress came from insight.exiger.com. That domain belongs to Exiger, a global risk, compliance, and investigative intelligence firm. Their Insight platform is used by corporations, law firms, financial institutions, and investigative teams to conduct due diligence, monitor public information, and assess risk. When traffic arrives from…
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Working in Huron’s Federal Building Today — and a Reminder of What Rounds’ Staff Said Last Summer
I’m in Huron today working at the federal building, troubleshooting and repairing an IT failure for the offices here. While on site, conversations with staff turned to cannabis policy and federal rescheduling. It brought back a discussion I had last summer while installing computers in Senator Mike Rounds’ offices in Pierre. During that work, staff…
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Cannabis Is Being Rebuilt From the Ground Up: Closed Technology Systems and Medical Gaps Force a New Foundation
The cannabis industry is still operating on incomplete infrastructure—both technological and scientific. That was the central message of a recent Trade to Black episode from The Dales Report, featuring Flowhub founder and CEO Kyle Sherman and Dr. Paul Shields.¹ The conversation made clear that many of the systems currently supporting cannabis retail and medical use…
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Iowa Medical Cannabis Board Public Meeting This Friday July 24 (DETAILS) (YOUTUBE)
Update: video is linked below of this meeting: Meeting Information for July 24, 2026 Medical Cannabidiol Board Meeting Beginning at 10:00am on Friday, July 24, the second Medical Cannabidiol Board meeting of 2026 will be held virtually using the information below: Zoom Link Telephone: 669-254-5252 Webinar ID: 165-677-2462 * For those who wish to participate in the public comment period…
Current Events
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38 Rules, 19,821 Patients, 108 Licensed Establishments: South Dakota Rewrites Its Medical Cannabis Program
If anybody says to you that your voice doesn’t matter, don’t believe it. It’s a strategy to create a place of negativity. — Stevie Wonder, Minneapolis, October 14, 2016 The Department of Health filed proposed amendments to Article 44:90 with the Legislative Research Council on August 21, 2026.¹ The South Dakota Register published that notice…
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Zach Lahn Ran Against Corporate Ag. Then He Picked a Bayer-Backed Hog Operator Whose Farm a Judge Just Put in Receivership
Zach Lahn won the Iowa Republican nomination for governor by running as the outsider who would put family farms ahead of corporate agriculture.¹ On June 12 he named state Rep. Derek Wulf, a Hardin-area hog and cattle operator, as his lieutenant governor.² On September 1, a district court judge appointed Hertz Farm Management as receiver…
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Health Department Tells Lawmakers South Dakota’s $20 Home-Grow Law Is Too Thin to Police — and Tightening It Raises Safety Questions
The Department of Health did not need a ballot fight to put a warning on the medical cannabis statute. It used the August Medical Marijuana Oversight Committee.¹ Program administrator Whitney Brunner told the committee that licensed home cultivators rose from 61 in fiscal year 2022 to 715 in fiscal year 2026 — a 1,072 percent…
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SD AG WeedPress Questions: October’s MMOC Meeting
South Dakota’s August 17 MMOC meeting confirmed institutional uncertainty that WeedPress policy posts had already identified and documented in statutory detail. Those WeedPress posts do not replace official guidance, but they do supply usable legal architecture, prior administrative filings, and concrete policy questions that the Committee and DOH can employ as they move toward the…
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When States Respond Differently to Federal Medical Cannabis Rescheduling: The Growing Legal and Operational Risks Facing Cannabis Licensees
The Department of Justice’s April 2026 final order placing qualifying state-licensed medical cannabis into Schedule III of the federal Controlled Substances Act represented the most significant federal regulatory development affecting state medical cannabis programs since Congress first enacted the Controlled Substances Act in 1970.¹ Although the order did not legalize adult-use marijuana, nor eliminate federal…
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South Dakota Reports Fewer Cannabis Businesses—but Not Why Their Licenses Disappeared
Welcome back to WeedPress, South Dakota’s only source for transparency and open public debate. South Dakota’s medical cannabis industry has lost 34 certified establishments since reaching its reported peak in state fiscal year 2023. The Department of Health reported 139 registered establishments in SFY 2023. That total fell to 124 in SFY 2024, 118 in…
Legislation
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The Patients Left Behind: How South Dakota’s Medical Cannabis Law Still Punishes the Sickest Among Us
In Iowa recently, a 91-year-old woman was told she had to leave the nursing home she called home because she used medical cannabis to manage her pain and symptoms. The facility gave her an ultimatum: stop using the medicine her doctor supported, or move out. She refused. The case went to court. What should have…
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Patient Legal Risks Solved: A User-Level Exemption Model for Schedule III
The April 28, 2026 federal partial rescheduling order left a significant gap: personal home cultivation was not included in the narrow categories moved to Schedule III. Colorado attorneys Brian Vicente and Rachel Gillette have been direct about the practical consequences. Vicente noted that home grows do not qualify for the new federal registration pathway because…
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The Rural Access Question South Dakota’s New Pharmacy Rules Raise for Medical Cannabis
As regulators embrace telepharmacy and remote prescription pickup, policymakers may eventually face similar questions about medical cannabis access in rural communities. South Dakota’s Board of Pharmacy is advancing updated rules under Article 20:51 of the Administrative Rules of South Dakota (ARSD) that formalize the use of remote drop sites for prescription medications and introduce a…
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Stork Just Sent a Researcher to WeedPress: What Academic Tools Mean for Cannabis Policy Analysis
Independent statutory deep-dives are showing up alongside peer-reviewed literature in researchers’ workflows. It’s not every day your analytics dashboard lights up with a referrer you’ve never seen before. Today, May 5, 2026, WeedPress received a visit from paper-box.co — the domain tied to Stork (storkapp.me), a specialized publication-tracking and research intelligence platform used by academics,…
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Why Cannabis Operators Can’t Afford to Ignore the Federal Rescheduling Details — And What You Must Do Now
The federal government has split cannabis into two tracks. FDA-approved drug products containing marijuana and marijuana activity tied to a qualifying state-issued medical marijuana license under the new federal framework now occupy a different federal posture, while broader marijuana remains in Schedule I pending further proceedings.¹ That split is real, immediate, and carries tax, compliance,…
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WeedPress Looked Deeper: Congress’ Quiet Move to Block Trump’s Cannabis Rescheduling — and Why It Threatens Operators
The quietest threat to the federal cannabis shift is not coming from DEA’s June hearing. It is coming from the House appropriations process. On May 13, 2026, the full House Appropriations Committee is scheduled to mark up the FY2027 Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS) bill after the CJS subcommittee approved its version on April 30. Buried…
RFRA Updates
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Iowa Found a Religious Cannabis Claim Sincere — Then Denied the Injunction Because Hemp Already Sells THC
A Polk County judge found Carl Olsen’s religious cannabis claim sincere but held that Iowa’s legal hemp market meant he had not shown that marijuana enforcement substantially burdened the particular religious exercise he presented.¹ The September 10, 2026 order in Olsen v. State of Iowa is not a ruling that sacramental cannabis is unprotected. It…
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Nebraska First Freedom Act RFRA Appeal: Notes On General Language In Judicial Opinions
Türkiye Halk Bankası / Illinois v. Lidster: general language in an opinion is about the case then in front of the Court, not every later fact pattern. He is telling you not to treat a sentence from O Centro or a church case as a machine that prints a win for a lone probationer in…
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$150: Paying for the Record in Nebraska’s First Freedom Act Appeal
On Wednesday, August 26, 2026, I mailed a $150 cashier’s check to the Thurston County District Court at P.O. Box 216, Pender, Nebraska 68047. The check covers the estimated cost of the Bill of Exceptions for the April 8, 2026 evidentiary hearing on my request to modify a probation condition under Nebraska’s First Freedom Act.¹…
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Court Said I Didn’t Prove My Religion Because I Didn’t Testify. I’m Appealing Under Nebraska’s Religious “First Freedom Act”
Today I filed a Notice of Appeal in Thurston County District Court challenging the July 1, 2026 Order that denied my motion to modify a probation condition under the Nebraska First Freedom Act. The motion I filed sought a narrowly tailored religious accommodation allowing sacramental cannabis use consistent with my practice of the Rastafari faith.…
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Nebraska RFRA Appeal Argument, July 21, 2026
ARGUMENT I. The District Court Erred by Treating Defendant’s Personal Testimony as Effectively Indispensable to Establishing Sincerity Under the Nebraska First Freedom Act. The district court denied Defendant’s motion on the ground that he failed to establish a “sincerely held religious belief.” The court reasoned as follows: “There was no direct evidence of Defendant’s sincerely…
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Clarifying the Burden of Proof on Religious Sincerity Under RFRA and the Nebraska First Freedom Act
This submission addresses the proper burden of proof regarding religious sincerity under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (“RFRA”), 42 U.S.C. § 2000bb-1, and the Nebraska First Freedom Act, Neb. Rev. Stat. § 20-1701 et seq., in the context of a probation modification request seeking a religious exemption for the sacramental use of cannabis. Legal Standard:…
Upcoming Events
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Online Workshop – Candidate Vulnerability Assessment
Every candidate enters a race with potential vulnerabilities. These may include previous statements, professional history, financial records, social media activity, personal relationships, policy positions, or inconsistencies in the candidate’s public record. https://leadershipinstitute.org/event/701VL00000xvu8MYAQ Campaigns often devote significant time and resources to researching their opponents while failing to conduct the same level of research on their own…
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Indigenous Women’s Medicine Wheel Ride – August 9 Sturgis (Sign Up Here)
I’ll be on this ride at Sturgis this year on the marijuana Harley ultra glide. Go to the guy with the reggae blasting to link. Prayer at 8:30. Bring your safety gear as well. $60 registration. Follow Doodle On A Motorcycle on YouTube for updates. Ride starts at Outlaw Square. Register here: https://www.medicinewheelride.org/ Who We…
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The June 27 DEA Registration Deadline Is Coming Fast: South Dakota Operators Face a Compliance Cliff as the Safe Harbor Window Closes
With the June 27 DEA registration deadline approaching, the following analysis examines the practical timeline and compliance pressures facing South Dakota operators. South Dakota’s licensed medical cannabis operators now have roughly 29 days to secure critical federal protections before the expedited DEA registration window closes. On April 28, 2026, the Department of Justice and Drug…
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Advance Notice to South Dakota Department of Health: Petition for Scheduling Review Will Follow Federal Rescheduling Hearings
South Dakota’s medical cannabis program stands at a critical juncture following the federal partial rescheduling of certain marijuana products to Schedule III.¹ After the DEA’s June 29, 2026 rescheduling hearing concludes, the undersigned will formally petition the South Dakota Department of Health (DOH) to review and align the state’s Schedule I classification of marijuana with…
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Why South Dakota’s Own Statutes Now Make Schedule I Marijuana Unlawful to Maintain
“Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is placing both FDA-approved drug products containing marijuana, and medicinal marijuana products subject to a qualifying state-issued license in Schedule III under his authority to reschedule drugs to carry out the United States’ obligations under the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs.”¹ South Dakota, however, is not automatically bound by that…
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South Dakota’s Schedule I Marijuana Prohibition Heads to Court This Summer: Lawsuit Will Seek Declaration That State Law No Longer Satisfies Its Own Criteria
This summer I intend to file a civil action against the State of South Dakota seeking a judicial declaration that the state’s Schedule I classification of marijuana no longer satisfies the statutory criteria required for Schedule I placement under South Dakota law.¹ The claim is straightforward: once the factual predicate of “no accepted medical use”…
For The Record (2026), By Jason Karimi
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South Dakota Faces Risk of Automatic Rescheduling Under Existing Statutory Language
The recent action by Wyoming’s Attorney General demonstrates that states are increasingly recognizing the legal significance of federal marijuana rescheduling where state statutes incorporate federal scheduling decisions. South Dakota’s existing statutory language raises similar questions that should be addressed before federal reform takes effect. WeedPress has previously warned that South Dakota law contains automatic trigger…
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Travis Ismay Responds to My Congratulatory Email: A Small Step Toward Civil Discourse in South Dakota Politics
Yesterday, Rep. Travis Ismay (R-House District 28B) replied to the congratulatory email I sent him shortly after his decisive Republican primary victory on June 2.¹ For context, here is the full exchange: My email (June 2, 2026): For context, here is the full exchange: It’s a brief, gracious response — and one I appreciate. Background…
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DARE Poster Kid to Marijuana Regulation Advocate: My Unchanging Fight to Protect Kids
When I was in elementary school, the DARE program left a lasting impression. Officers visited regularly, warning us about the dangers of drugs and pushing the “just say no” message. I took it seriously. So when the school announced an anti-drug poster contest open to elementary students, I threw myself into creating something impactful. My…
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Chapter 10: What Remains
Table of Contents Preface Chapter 1 — The First ArrestEarly rupture, authority, and the beginning of resistance Chapter 2 — Before the File Was Opened Gifted education, faith, discipline, and early legitimacy Chapter 3 — Becoming a ProblemWork, exhaustion, collapse, and the cost of visibility Chapter 4 — Learning the Language of PowerCourts, probation, jail, campaigns, and proximity to decision-makers…
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Chapter 9: The Record vs. the Narrative
Table of Contents Preface Chapter 1 — The First ArrestEarly rupture, authority, and the beginning of resistance Chapter 2 — Before the File Was Opened Gifted education, faith, discipline, and early legitimacy Chapter 3 — Becoming a ProblemWork, exhaustion, collapse, and the cost of visibility Chapter 4 — Learning the Language of PowerCourts, probation, jail, campaigns, and proximity to decision-makers…
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Chapter 8: What the Media Gets Wrong
Table of Contents Preface Chapter 1 — The First ArrestEarly rupture, authority, and the beginning of resistance Chapter 2 — Before the File Was Opened Gifted education, faith, discipline, and early legitimacy Chapter 3 — Becoming a ProblemWork, exhaustion, collapse, and the cost of visibility Chapter 4 — Learning the Language of PowerCourts, probation, jail, campaigns, and proximity to decision-makers…
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Chapter 7: Why I Never Left
Table of Contents Preface Chapter 1 — The First ArrestEarly rupture, authority, and the beginning of resistance Chapter 2 — Before the File Was Opened Gifted education, faith, discipline, and early legitimacy Chapter 3 — Becoming a ProblemWork, exhaustion, collapse, and the cost of visibility Chapter 4 — Learning the Language of PowerCourts, probation, jail, campaigns, and proximity to decision-makers…
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Chapter 6: Staying Power
Table of Contents Preface Chapter 1 — The First ArrestEarly rupture, authority, and the beginning of resistance Chapter 2 — Before the File Was Opened Gifted education, faith, discipline, and early legitimacy Chapter 3 — Becoming a ProblemWork, exhaustion, collapse, and the cost of visibility Chapter 4 — Learning the Language of PowerCourts, probation, jail, campaigns, and proximity to decision-makers…
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Chapter 5: The Apprenticeship
Table of Contents Preface Chapter 1 — The First ArrestEarly rupture, authority, and the beginning of resistance Chapter 2 — Before the File Was Opened Gifted education, faith, discipline, and early legitimacy Chapter 3 — Becoming a ProblemWork, exhaustion, collapse, and the cost of visibility Chapter 4 — Learning the Language of PowerCourts, probation, jail, campaigns, and proximity to decision-makers…
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Chapter 4: Learning the Language of Power
Table of Contents Preface Chapter 1 — The First ArrestEarly rupture, authority, and the beginning of resistance Chapter 2 — Before the File Was Opened Gifted education, faith, discipline, and early legitimacy Chapter 3 — Becoming a ProblemWork, exhaustion, collapse, and the cost of visibility Chapter 4 — Learning the Language of PowerCourts, probation, jail, campaigns, and proximity to decision-makers…
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Chapter 3: Becoming a Problem
Table of Contents Preface Chapter 1 — The First ArrestEarly rupture, authority, and the beginning of resistance Chapter 2 — Before the File Was Opened Gifted education, faith, discipline, and early legitimacy Chapter 3 — Becoming a ProblemWork, exhaustion, collapse, and the cost of visibility Chapter 4 — Learning the Language of PowerCourts, probation, jail, campaigns, and proximity to decision-makers…
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Chapter 2: Before the File Was Opened
Table of Contents Preface Chapter 1 — The First ArrestEarly rupture, authority, and the beginning of resistance Chapter 2 — Before the File Was Opened Gifted education, faith, discipline, and early legitimacy Chapter 3 — Becoming a ProblemWork, exhaustion, collapse, and the cost of visibility Chapter 4 — Learning the Language of PowerCourts, probation, jail, campaigns, and proximity to decision-makers…
Commentary
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No, South Dakota’s Medical Cannabis Rules Do Not Satisfy Federal Schedule III Requirements — Operators Will Need to Make Real Adjustments
New analysis shows that South Dakota’s current licensing rules do not fully satisfy the new federal Schedule III requirements. DEA registration, security upgrades, and disclosure obligations represent real adjustments that many operators will need to make. Blanket claims that “everyone will be fine with little change” overlook these gaps. Some voices in South Dakota are…
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Reflections on a Bruised Nail: What My Left Middle Finger Injury Taught Me About Inner Worth and Boundaries
Two months ago, I slammed my left middle finger, resulting in a subungual hematoma—the dark pool of blood trapped beneath the nail that turned my fingertip into a visual reminder of sudden impact.¹ No longer painful, the nail still carries a mottled shadow of black and white as new growth slowly pushes the old damage…
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Leadership Matters: Strategy Failure — Not the Supreme Court — Doomed Legalization in South Dakota
Editors note: This piece analyzes past campaign strategy using publicly available court records and election results. When South Dakota voters approved Constitutional Amendment A in November 2020 to legalize, regulate, and tax marijuana, many supporters saw it as a historic victory for reform. But what followed — a legal challenge and a ruling from the…
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Deadwood Was South Dakota’s Origin Story
Deadwood Was South Dakota’s Origin Story HBO’s western is not just about one outlaw camp. It is about the culture of theft, violated Lakota land, gold obsession, and rough power that helped shape the state By Jason Karimi | WeedPress March 26, 2026 HBO’s Deadwood is not a documentary. It is something more dangerous to…
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The District Math: How Primary Elections Actually Decide Legislative Power in South Dakota
The District Math: How Primary Elections Actually Decide Legislative Power in South Dakota By Jason Karimi | WeedPress February 23, 2026 If HB 1065 was a diagnostic, district math is the operating manual. Political influence in South Dakota is not determined by statewide sentiment alone. It is determined district by district — often by a…
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From Diagnosis to Discipline: Building Primary Leverage in South Dakota’s Medical Cannabis Politics
From Diagnosis to Discipline: Building Primary Leverage in South Dakota’s Medical Cannabis Politics By Jason Karimi | WeedPress February 16, 2026 HB 1065 advancing is a test for the medical cannabis movement in South Dakota. If a restriction bill can clear committee 8–3 and advance toward the House floor with minimal electoral anxiety, the movement…
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WeedPress Is Mapping the Battlefield While Others Debate the Map
WeedPress Is Mapping the Battlefield While Others Debate the Map WeedPress Policy SeriesBy Jason Karimi ⸻ There are two kinds of publications in contentious policy environments. Some debate what the terrain should look like. Others study what the terrain actually is. WeedPress was built to do the second. While many cannabis commentators remain focused on…
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HB 1065 Heads to the Floor: The Primary Gap in South Dakota’s Medical Cannabis Politics
HB 1065 Heads to the Floor: The Primary Gap in South Dakota’s Medical Cannabis Politics As restriction legislation advances, the absence of effectively deterrent electoral pressure reveals a leverage problem within the state’s cannabis movement. As House Bill 1065 advances to the South Dakota House floor, the moment calls for structural reflection rather than rhetorical…
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Discipline Forged Under Scrutiny: Why the Hard Path Produces the Most Careful Lawyers
Discipline Forged Under Scrutiny: Why the Hard Path Produces the Most Careful LawyersBy Jason Karimi | WeedPress | February 14th, 2026 ⸻ Some of the most disciplined lawyers are not the ones who glide through clean transcripts and uninterrupted résumés. They are the ones who had to fight to be admitted. They understand that the…
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Outline of Cannabis Federalism: Constitutional Architecture in a Post-Prohibition Era
New book in monograph form incoming. Estimated release date: July 4, 2026 Cannabis Federalism: Constitutional Architecture in a Post-Prohibition Era Subtitle: A Structural Analysis of Vertical Preemption, Horizontal Protectionism, and Patient-Centered Regulatory Design By Jason Karimi Proposed Table of Contents Preface From Conflict to Architecture Brief, measured acknowledgment of the volatility of the cannabis policy…
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The “Lazy but Ambitious” Minority: Why 15–20% of People Are Wired Differently — and How That Can Be a Strength
The “Lazy but Ambitious” Minority: Why 15–20% of People Are Wired Differently — and How That Can Be a Strength By Jason Karimi A growing body of productivity and behavioral-psychology content points to a counterintuitive personality pattern: a significant minority of people — often estimated informally at 15–20% of the population in coaching and productivity…
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Why I No Longer Testify at Most Hearings
Why I No Longer Testify at Most Hearings Seventeen Years, Four Bills Passed, and Managing Campaigns and Staff Have Taught Me Institutional Architecture Is Not a Two-Minute Topic By Jason Karimi | WeedPress | February 12, 2026 This week’s attempt to repeal South Dakota’s medical cannabis laws leaned on ignorance of the federal architecture and…
Patient Perspectives
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What Rescheduling Still Doesn’t Fix for Probationers, Workers, and Patients
Editors note: this article was written prior the the April 23 final order rescheduling cannabis products into federal Schedule III. Article is published unchanged as originally drafted for clarity. April 30, 2026 Too much cannabis coverage still treats federal rescheduling like a magic wand patients should uncritically celebrate. I’ve studied these laws more than anyone…
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Why South Dakota’s Own Statutes Now Make Schedule I Marijuana Unlawful to Maintain
“Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is placing both FDA-approved drug products containing marijuana, and medicinal marijuana products subject to a qualifying state-issued license in Schedule III under his authority to reschedule drugs to carry out the United States’ obligations under the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs.”¹ South Dakota, however, is not automatically bound by that…
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South Dakota’s Schedule I Marijuana Prohibition Heads to Court This Summer: Lawsuit Will Seek Declaration That State Law No Longer Satisfies Its Own Criteria
This summer I intend to file a civil action against the State of South Dakota seeking a judicial declaration that the state’s Schedule I classification of marijuana no longer satisfies the statutory criteria required for Schedule I placement under South Dakota law.¹ The claim is straightforward: once the factual predicate of “no accepted medical use”…
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South Dakota Patients and Taxpayers Deserve More Transparency in Medical Cannabis Enforcement
As federal rescheduling advances, unresolved transparency gaps remain in South Dakota’s medical market. South Dakota’s Medical Cannabis Program is designed to operate through patient, caregiver, practitioner, and establishment fees rather than ordinary general-fund appropriations.¹ But a fee-funded program still creates public administrative costs. Enforcement actions require inspectors, lawyers, agency leadership, public notices, patient communications, litigation…
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Minnesota Was Arguing Schedule III Before Washington Caught Up
April 26, 2026 Minnesota has already done what many cannabis lawyers, reformers, and national reporters still describe as hypothetical: it moved marijuana and naturally occurring tetrahydrocannabinols into Schedule III under state controlled-substances law.¹ The change has been sitting in Minnesota law quietly, without anything close to the national attention now surrounding federal rescheduling.² That matters…
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Public Records Show Two Active Civil Cases Involving 605 Cannabis Executive; Questions of Transparency Follow For Reform Leadership
Update: publicly available court records show a 605 Cannabis LLC COO has had a default judgment for failure to pay a $7500 loan entered by Hanson County Court November 2025, as well as a domestic assault charge for husband on wife assault and an arrest and jailing in the Alexandria South Dakota County jail for…
