ERF Spotlight: Setting the Record Straight

This week’s state Oversight Committee meeting left a lot of South Dakota’s medical cannabis community feeling blindsided.

Most of the invited speakers were from out of state, and nearly all of them focused on worst-case scenarios instead of what’s actually happening here at home.

What we didn’t hear were voices from the people who live and work within South Dakota’s regulated medical program. That includes the doctors, patients, and dispensaries who follow the rules and show up every day to make this system work safely.

Here’s what we want people to know

1. A medical dispensary is not a vape shop.
When you walk into a licensed medical cannabis dispensary, you show your state-issued card, your ID is verified, and your visit is logged. Every product on the shelf is tracked from seed to sale and tested for purity and potency.

The products being sold at gas stations and vape shops, including those labeled “hemp-derived,” “Delta,” or “THC-O,” are not part of the medical program. Many of those are synthetic, chemically modified, and completely unregulated. That is not what we do, and not what the state approved.

2. South Dakota’s program is built around safety.
Every patient goes through the proper channels, every dispensary is inspected, and every product is documented and lab-certified. It is a system designed for protection, not profit, and we take that seriously.

3. We believe in open, honest conversations, not fear.
If lawmakers and committees want to make improvements, let’s talk about real data and real experiences from the people who live with these policies every day. That is the only way to keep South Dakota’s program strong, safe, and trusted.

We are proud of the work being done here.

We see the patients who have found relief. We see the caregivers doing it right. And we will keep showing up to protect this program, not because it is easy, but because it matters.

— The East River Farms Team