Governor Noem signs Hemp restriction bill into law
A bill signed into law Tuesday could spell trouble for retailers all over the Black Hills.
House Bill 1125 bans the manufacture and sale of certain chemically altered hemp products. The bill is opposed by many shops that carry such products, and one business owner sent a letter to the governor urging her not to sign the bill into law.
Last month we covered HB 1125 as it moved through the legislature. When we first reported on the bill it was set to be voted on in the Senate. Since then, the bill has been amended and passed both legislative bodies in Pierre. Advocates in the cannabis and hemp industries are now speaking out, saying they were not adequately represented during the writing of the bill.
“I feel like the hemp industry was underrepresented and we didn’t have a chance at all to come to the table until the pieces of legislation started popping up on the SDLRC (South Dakota Legislative Research Council) website,” said Caleb Rose the co-owner of Black Hills Vapors in Rapid City.
Aside from the lack of representation, Rose says he thinks there is still more research to be done on THC-adjacent products.
Rose says he and many other shop owners in the area aren’t opposed to legislation in concept, but they want reassurance that those passing the law understand what products they are restricting.
“There was a lot of definitions a lot of acronyms and terms that even the Department of Health chemist and legislatures themselves openly admitted they weren’t experts on explaining and weren’t very clear on. There was mispronunciations on the floors so we could have helped alleviate a lot of that,” said Rose.
In order for different regulations on hemp products to be considered, a new bill would have to be drafted during next year’s legislative session.
We reached out to the Governor’s Office for a statement on the bill and she has not gotten back to us.
