RAPID CITY, S.D. (KBHB) – The Sturgis City Council is working on an ordinance that will temporarily govern medical marijuana until the state can adopt rules on legalization.
Sturgis City Manager Daniel Ainslie says like other communities, they have many concerns, like whether they ought to mandate people acquire medical marijuana from approved dispensaries.
“You don’t have to, but if you do not then people are authorized to grow their own plants, and everything we have heard is that becomes the most dangerous thing in the community,” Ainslie said, adding the city could see break-ins by people looking to steal plants.
Opening a dispensary comes with its own touch choices, like whether it should be government-owned or privately run, and how to regulate the specific products the store offers.
Ainslie said the city has been studying how other states, like Colorado, handle their medical marijuana regulations.
The council could see a first reading of some sort of medical marijuana ordinance at their first June meeting.
Meanwhile, the Rapid City Council discussed medical marijuana at their scheduled working session Wednesday.
The city doesn’t want to monitor the consumption of marijuana but discuss where manufactures of the product will be placed.
Despite medical marijuana becoming legal July 1st, the state has not yet adopted any rules on the legalization.
City Attorney Joel Landeen says a lot of the communities are either moving forward not knowing what the state rules are or doing something similar to what they’re doing – setting something up initially to at least get something in the books.
Landeen hopes to receive guidance from the state within the next few months.
(Gary Matthews, KBHB, contributed this report.)
