Cannabis critics lose bid for seats on medical marijuana oversight committee

Lawmakers raised concerns about the appointment of legislator's spouses to the committee

(The Dakota Scout)

Cannabis-hostile lawmakers will not get their preferred representation on a panel that will influence the state’s medical marijuana program.

A divided Executive Board of the South Dakota Legislature selected new members for state’s Medical Marijuana Oversight Committee, which will include four legislators considered moderates on cannabis policy.

“We need on this committee legislators who are not totally for or against,” Sen. Steve Kolbeck said before supporting nominations of Sens. Erin Tobin and Jim Mehlhaff and Reps. Roger DeGroot and Curt Massie.

Sioux Falls addiction counselor Megan Palmer also earned an appointment to the panel.

But five members of the E-Board wanted members resistant to progressive cannabis reforms, including Rep. Brandei Schaefbauer and Darcy Jensen, a drug prevention and treatment counselor married to Canton Rep. Kevin Jensen.

“She demonstrated a strong desire to be on this committee,” Rep. Rebecca Reimer said of Schaefbauer. “She is familiar with medical terminology, as she has spent 13 years in the medical field assisting with patient care.”

Schaefbauer did not win an appointment.

“I’m disappointed that I wasn’t selected for the committee,” Schaefbauer said in a statement to The Dakota Scout. “I’m hoping that the ones that were selected will be sure to keep the marijuana industry in line with the laws we have in South Dakota.”

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